


Memories, Old and New!

by MythGirl02



Series: Memories [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, and another one of my most popular, for whatever reason, one of my longest fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2020-08-19 23:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20217967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythGirl02/pseuds/MythGirl02
Summary: It's the day that marks Serena's dad's passing, and like always, she needs to be busy in order to keep herself from crying the day away. Even though she doesn't want her friends [other than Ash] to know about this, she might find that she'll need their help to keep herself busy the entire day.





	1. Another Morning of Another Day

Sun streamed through the window of the Pokémon Center room that Serena, Bonnie, Clemont and Ash had rented, signalling that morning had arrived. The only one awake, though, was Serena.

Of course, it was to no fault of the others. It was still very early in the morning, and Clemont usually woke up a half hour later than it was now; Ash usually slept in as late a possible; and Bonnie. . .well, it took forever to get her up in the morning!

She yawned silently, stretching her arms as she got up. Getting out of the [very comfortable] bed, she made her way sleepily to the window. Peeking around the curtains, careful not to let the light wake anyone, she took in the beauty of the morning.

A light layer of frost covered the ground, sparkling in the sunlight. The sky was cloudless, allowing the sun to shine through at maximum brightness. All in all, it was a perfect day for the tail end of winter.

That is, until the calendar app on Serena's tablet popped up with a notification, bringing her whole day down.

_Feb. 19- Dad's passing_

She stopped in her tracks. So it was _that_ day again. Taking a deep breath, she put the tablet into sleep mode; she wouldn't be needing it today anyways. She, Ash, Clemont and Bonnie had decided to stay in this area for another day, so Ash and Serena could get in some more training. She was especially glad for it, now.

Taking a deep breath, Serena looked around the room. Everyone was still sleeping soundly, showing no signs of waking anytime soon. She nodded to herself before glancing back at the blank tablet. It was time for the sort-of routine she did every year.

Throughout the years since her dad's passing, Serena had figured out that as long as she kept herself busy and distracted, she would be alright. That was the only time at home she was actually grateful for her mom's rhyhorn racing lessons.

For right now, though, there was no better way to keep herself busy than to bake!

As silently as possible, she grabbed the bag with her dry ingredients in it, Pancham and Fennekin's poké balls, and a cloth-wrapped object. Before she left the room, she scratched out a quick note on a pad of paper she found.

_Went to the kitchen to bake. Don't wait to eat, I'll grab something on the way. ~Serena_

Satisfied, she left the room, closing the door silently behind her. She didn't bother getting anything to eat on the way, contrary to what she had said in her note. She had a couple snacks in her bag for when she was waiting for her treats to bake.

Entering the kitchen, she set her bag on the counter before calling out Fennekin and Pancham. The two small pokémon emerged with a yawn, taking in their surroundings. They usually first came out in the morning for breakfast, so they were a bit confused as to why they were currently in a kitchen. Fennekin looked questioningly up at Serena, who chuckled a bit.

"It's all right, Fennekin. We're just going to do some baking. Here," she said, digging around in her bag, "I brought us some snacks." Pulling out a couple Oran berries for Fennekin and Pancham and an apple for herself, she drew out the rest of her dry ingredients.

While Serena had her back turned, preheating the oven, Pancham noticed the cloth-wrapped object and began poking it. Cautiously, he prodded it some more, but the cloth was on tight enough where it didn't move.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Serena exclaimed, picking up the object. She carefully unwrapped it, carefully placing the object on the counter: a picture frame with a photo of a man and a little girl, asleep against each other.

As Fennekin and Pancham gazed intently at the picture, Serena sighed fondly. "That's me and my dad, back when I was five," she explained. "He took me and my mom on a surprise picnic that day. It's always been one of my favorite pictures of him."

"Pan pan Pancham," Pancham said questioningly, as if asking why Serena had brought the picture into the kitchen.

"Well, my dad died about two years after this picture was taken. It's the anniversary today of his death, so I need to keep myself busy. One year I didn't, and I ended up crying in my room the entire day. So that's why we're here this early, and that's why we're gonna work extra hard today, alright?"

"Fen!" Fennekin cried happily, before coming up to Serena and licking her hand. Pancham punched a fist in the air, up to the challenge.

"Alright then, let's get started! I bought the ingredients we need to make lemon bars, how about it?" She walked over and preheated the oven before starting on the crust. "I think this'll make a nice, bittersweet treat for later, don't you think?"

Serena and her partners spent the rest of the time finishing the lemon bars. Just as the bars were coming out of the oven, she heard someone enter the kitchen. "Serena?" They said. "Are you alright?"

Serena turned, placing the hot pan on the counter to cool, before looking at Ash, already dressed and ready to go for the day. Pikachu, as usual, was perched on his shoulder. "You're up early."

"So are you," he countered. "Clemont, Bonnie, and I just got up not all that long ago, and Clemont wanted me to come check on you."

Smiling warmly at him, she said, "That was nice of him, but I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Ash's brown eyes met her blue eyes as he leaned against the counter. Pikachu jumped down onto the counter, going over to Fennekin and Pancham. "You didn't completely silence your calendar."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Did anyone else. . . ?"

"I silenced it before they could see it," he answered immediately. "Only I saw it, don't worry."

Sighing, Serena thanked him. "I don't want them to feel bad or anything; it's over and done with. That's a picture of me and him," she added, pointing to the framed picture on the counter that Fennekin and Pancham were studying once again. Pikachu stared at it now, too.

Ash gave it a closer look. "Judging from the picture and what you told me on New Year's Eve, it seems like you two were really close."

"Yeah. We were." She shook her head, clearing the thoughts seeping into her brain. "I don't want to talk about it now, though. I need to distract myself, or else I'll become a crying mess. That's why I came in here to bake. Speaking of which. . . Fennekin, do you think they're cool enough?"

Fennekin sniffed the pan, then nodded with a smile. "Kin!"

"Great! Want to try one, Ash? And Pikachu, too?" Serena asked, grabbing a knife and carefully cutting the lemon bars.

"Yes, please!" He answered, looking at the lemon bars with a gleam in his eye. Pikachu answered in its own language, but still with the same amount of enthusiasm. Serena chuckled, prying one out of the pan and onto a napkin. Ash reached for it hungrily, but she pulled it away from him.

"Nuh-uh. You have to wait for me, Fennekin, Pancham, and Pikachu to get ours," she teased.

"Aw, come on!" He protested, deflating a bit. "Those smell soooo good!"

Sliding four more onto napkins, she said, "Thank you, but you still have to wait just one more second." Handing one to Fennekin, one to Pancham, one to Pikachu and one to Ash, she picked up the final one herself. "All right, go ahead."

Ash, Pancham, and Pikachu devoured theirs in a matter of seconds; meanwhile, Serena and Fennekin took a bite of theirs and flinched. "Too bitter! I think I used too much lemon juice in these," Serena said apologetically.

"I didn't notice," Ash said, prompting her to swat his arm. Pikachu and Pancham agreed, Pancham reaching for another before Fennekin swatted him with her tail.

"Of course you didn't, you practically swallowed it whole!" She had to admit, she liked how they had become after the kiss she had given him on New Year's Eve. The next day, she had fully confessed her feelings for each him- in front of Clemont and Bonnie, accidentally- and although they decided to not date quite yet, as neither of them were really ready for that, they proceeded to a whole new level of closeness. She fully enjoyed it, too- she felt that she could be more relaxed around him, and felt herself joke around more. Ash continued what he normally did, but was more observative. Bonnie and Clemont, on the other hand. . . they had made a game of getting them alone together as often as possible to try and see if they would kiss. Or, at least, Bonnie did, and made Clemont watch with her.

Before they could cool too much, Serena transferred the lemon bars into the container usually reserved for poképuffs. "I'm not going to eat these, but everyone else can if they like them." She pushed her unfinished lemon bar over to Ash, who began eating it after breaking it in half and giving the other half to Pikachu. Fennekin soon gave hers to Pancham as well. "It's odd, though; I used the juice of two lemons like I usually do, and it's never this bitter."

Swallowing another bite, Ash asked, "Did you do everything else the same?"

She nodded. "Of course. I never deviate from this recipe. It was the first thing I learned how to bake, and it always came out just right. I wonder why it didn't this time?"

"How many times have you made this recipe?"

"Countless times; it was the first thing I learned how to make. It was my grandma's recipe, and my dad's favorite." She shook her head, watching Pancham devour his third bar. "I didn't do anything different, but this is the first time I make it with Fennekin and Pancham. . ."

Ash and Serena turned to the said Pokémon, one of which was already onto his fourth lemon bar.

"All right, did either of you do anything to the batter?" Serena asked, hands on her hips. Fennekin looked up, shaking her head, before going back to chasing Pikachu around on the ground.

"Pancham? What about you?" Ash asked curiously.

Pancham looked at the two trainers, a small smile on his face from the lingering bittersweetness of the bars. "Pan Pancham cham."

"I did leave him in charge of measuring the sugar," Serena muttered. "Pancham, can you show me how much sugar you put in?"

Pancham swallowed the last bit of his lemon bar, then grabbed one of the now-clean measuring cups, handing it to Serena.

"That's it! Pancham, the recipe called for one-thirds cup sugar, not one-quarter," she chided. Pancham deflated a bit, perking up again when Serena set her hand on its head. "It's all right, Pancham, we'll get it right next time."

She waited a moment, seemingly for nothing, then called out, "Bonnie, do you and Clemont like really lemony treats?"

Ash looked at her, a confused look on his face. "What-"

"I do, but Clemont doesn't," Bonnie answered, popping into the room. "How'd you know I was out there?"

"Just a hunch," Serena answered with a wink. "How long have you been out there?"

"Long enough to know Pancham didn't put in enough sugar. What did you make?" She asked, running over to the counter and trying to peer into the container.

Serena giggled, bringing the container down to the small blonde's eye level. "Lemon bars. Would you like to try one?"

Bonnie's face lit up. "Yes, please!" She took one out of the container and started eating it. "Yummy!" Glancing into the container once more, she said, "Hey, there aren't a lot in there."

"You can blame that on them," Serena said, playfully glaring at Ash and Pancham. "At least Pikachu only ate one."

"Hey, I'm sorry if they're good!" Ash laughed. Bonnie laughed as well, stopping when something caught her eye.

"What's this?" She asked, gazing at the picture that was still set on the counter.

"Oh! Um, that's a picture of me and my dad," Serena answered, hurrying to pick it up but gingerly wrapping it in the fabric.

"Why haven't we met him yet? We've met your mom before," Bonnie inquired, her youthful curiosity shining through.

Serena's face turned a light shade of scarlet. She didn't anticipate being put on the spot about her dad this early in the morning. "Uh-"

"He travels a lot," Ash supplied. "For his job, I mean. Serena was just telling me about him."

"Oh, okay!" She looked down at her bad, noticing Dedenne was awake. "Can I give Dedenne a lemon bar, please?"

"Of course," Serena answered, her face paling back to its natural cream color. Then, as Bonnie busied herself with giving Dedenne small pieces of the bar, as well as eating some herself, she mouthed "Thank you," over the girl's head at Ash.

"No problem," he mouthed back, a smile on his face. She was wholly grateful that he understood that she didn't want to talk about her dad to Clemont or Bonnie just yet.

"Hey Serena, if you're done in here, can we go back to the room? Clemont's still waiting for us there," Bonnie remembered.

"Alright, just let me put my things back in my bag," Serena answered, already carefully placing her materials back into the bag they belonged in. Shouldering it once she finished, she started out the door with Fennekin and Pancham at her heels before Ash stopped her.

"Here, let me take your bag," he offered, holding his hand out. Serena blushed, embarrassed, but complied with a smile.

"Thank you, Ash," she said lightly, holding back a laugh as Bonnie and Dedenne bounced around them. Pikachu walked calmly with Fennekin and Pancham, but they were talking in their own language as if sharing a secret.

"When are you guys gonna kiss?" Bonnie asked, stopping momentarily at the two older trainers.

Before she could respond [or get the furious blush off of her face], Ash answered with a mischievous grin, "When the time is right." Of course, that only made Serena blush even more.

It was going to be a loooooong day.


	2. Story Time

As soon as they got back to the room, where Clemont was still waiting for them, they had decided to go out to the battlefield behind the Pokémon Center so that Ash and Serena could train and practice and so Bonnie could have space to run. The frost outside had already melted, and it was getting warmer.

However, once they were all set and ready to go, it started raining outside.

And not just a light sprinkle, either; it was an absolute downpour that only water-types could appreciate. The sky that was a clear blue that morning was now an angry gray, and lightning flashed in the distance.

"Guess we're not going anywhere now, then," Clemont said once they saw the large droplets of rain pounding the ground.

"I guess not," Serena agreed quietly. Her plan had been to practice with Fennekin and Pancham the entire day for their showcase debut, but that obviously wasn't going to happen now. Even if it was a light sprinkle, the ground would still be muddy, and she and Fennekin both hated being dirty.

"What do we do now?" Bonnie grumped on their way back to the room. "I don't wanna be stuck inside all day!"

"Don't worry, we'll figure out something fun to do," Ash promised with a grin. "Sometimes rainy days can be the most fun; it all depends on how you spend them!"

"That's right," Clemont said. "Bonnie, remember when we were younger and we would play all these different games we made up?"

Bonnie perked up a little. "Oh yeah! I loved those games!" She turned to Serena. "We used to play all these games where we would pretend to be pokémon, or we would act out stories or stuff. And then sometimes we would get Mommy and Daddy into it, too. It was so much fun!"

"I always liked rainy days, too," Ash added as they reached their room. "My mom and I would sit on the couch the entire day, and she would read me stories or we'd watch TV together."

Shivering slightly as the coolness of the room hit her, Serena said, "I'm going to change into something warmer; I'll be right back," grabbing a couple things from her bag before going to the bathroom.

She changed into thick black leggings, discarding her skirt completely, and changing her usual black top to a baggy red sweater. On rainy days, she found it best to be dressed comfortably, especially when she has nothing else to do.

Emerging quickly from the bathroom, she took her place on her bed across from Ash's and next to Bonnie's. "Alright, so what should we do?" She asked.

"Well, we had breakfast already while you were in the kitchen, so we're all set on that front. . ." Clemont started. "What did you make, by the way?"

"Lemon bars. They came out too bitter, though. There aren't a lot left, but anyone who wants them can have them with lunch."

Ash grinned at Serena, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "Hey Serena. . . Can I please have another lemon bar?"

"No. And remind me to hide the container, too," she said, sending the last part in Bonnie's direction.

"Please?" He begged. "I just want one more!"

"No," Serena responded with a smirk. "You and Pancham are both banned from the rest of the lemon bars. You two already had more than your fair share."

Ash finally relented with a sigh. "Fine. So. . . what now, then? I'm not gonna be able to train today in this weather."

"We'll figure something out," Serena promised, putting the now-empty container back into her bag and taking out a brush. Starting to brush the knots out of her hair, she added, "Who knows? Maybe this is what we all need."

"I must agree," Clemont said. "We've all been working hard lately; we surely need a break."

"But I don't want to be in here all day," Ash whined, flopping dramatically onto his bed. Bonnie giggled from her spot on her bed as Serena threw her hairbrush at him, smacking into his stomach. "What was that for?" He asked, sitting up and tossing the hairbrush right back to her.

"That was for acting like a little kid," she chided, picking up the brush that had landed next to her on her bed. Ash groaned, falling back onto the bed once again.

"Not that again! My friend Iris used to call me a little kid all the time. It was so annoying!" He complained.

"Who's Iris?" Bonnie inquired. Truth be told, Serena was wondering the same thing, but she didn't have the guts to ask.

"She's one of my old travelling partners," he explained. "I traveled with her and our friend Cilan in Unova."

"So you went on other journeys before Kalos?" Bonnie asked, the questions flowing steadily out of her.

"Yep. First I went through Kanto with my friends Brock and Misty, then the Orange Islands with Misty and Tracey, and then Johto with Misty and Brock again. After that was Hoenn, with Brock, May, and her brother Max, and after Hoenn was Sinnoh with Dawn and Brock. Then I went to Unova, then the Decolore Islands, which is where I met Alexa. Iris and Cilan were there, too." He paused a moment, as if recalling a plethora of memories. "And then I came here."

"So you've been to a lot of different places, then, right?" Serena asked.

"I guess so. I've never really thought about it that way." A smile playing on his face, he added, "I've only really thought of it as the next destination on my journey."

"Oh! That gives me an idea!" Bonnie exclaimed, jumping up from her seated position. "We should play a game where we each have to tell a silly story that we've never told anyone before!"

The three older trainers exchanged looks, then nodded. It wasn't as if they had anything better to do, and besides, it sounded like it could be fun!

"I'll go first," Serena offered. Thinking for a moment, she pulled up one particular memory. . . "Got it! So, when I was younger, I used a lot of the time my mom wasn't forcing me to train for rhyhorn racing to study fashion. This was a couple years ago. . . I was maybe eight or nine, around your age, Bonnie. I wanted to make myself a sundress, but I didn't have a mannequin or anything to put it on in order to see if it would fit me. The only person close enough to my size at the time was my friend Calem. I knew he wouldn't willingly model a dress for me, so I may or may not have bribed him with cookies," she started, earning laughs from Bonnie, Clemont, and Ash.

She laughed for a moment as well before continuing. "So when he got to my house, I had to practically wrestle him into the dress- I told him he would get the cookies when he was done modeling for me. So then, once I had it on him, and was done pinning down the parts that needed to be fixed, I took out this camera I used to have and took about a dozen pictures before he could stop me or take off the dress! His face was about as red as Pikachu's cheeks. I still have the pictures, too." She took a breath, smiling. "And that's it."

"That was a good story, Serena!" Bonnie giggled. "Me next! Um, let's see. . . There was this one time before Clemont built Clembot where a challenger named Holly came with her little brother Ray, and during the match, he and I kept thinking of the silliest cheers for Clemont and Holly. The match took forever, too; his sister was really strong!"

"It didn't help that your cheers distracted the both of us," Clemont interjected.

"Yeah, yeah," Bonnie continued, waving off her brother's comment. "So anyway, after Holly won and she got her badge, I asked her if she would take care of Clemont. She didn't say anything at first, but Ray laughed, 'cause he was gonna ask if Clemont would take care of Holly!"

"No way!" Ash exclaimed with a grin. Bonnie nodded, a smile on her face as well.

"Yup! They were both really embarrassed, but it was totally worth it!" Now that she was done sharing her story, she flopped onto her stomach, bouncing Dedenne into the air. "Your turn, Clemont!"

"I don't really have a lot of good stories on this topic," he said, adjusting his glasses while he thought. "But there was this one instance with mine and Bonnie's mom before I built Clembot and even before I took over the gym. I was around six or seven at the time. Now, Mom is a scientist, and has been in Unova since I was eight to do research alongside a scientist living in Striaton City. Before she left, though, we would spend every Saturday in the lab together, working on some random projects just for fun, and she would spend Sundays with Bonnie doing what she wanted to do."

"I liked those days a whole lot," Bonnie said wistfully, closing her eyes.

"I liked my days with her, too. On this one particular Saturday, we were working on building a fully-functional radio from scratch. We had almost completed it, but instead of it picking up radio frequencies-" he paused for a second, glancing at Bonnie with a slight blush on his face. "It picked up the voices of Bonnie and our Dad."

"What!" Bonnie flipped over onto her back and was soon in a seated position, her cheeks puffed out in anger. "You never told me that! You just said it didn't work right!"

"I was still telling the truth! So anyways, Mom and I spent the entire day testing it out, listening to Bonnie have a tea party with Dad's Ampharos, or listening to Dad sing- horribly off-key, I might add- while he fixed a car for someone in the city. It was always mine and Mom's secret," Clemont finished with a weak smile.

Serena giggled as Bonnie blew the air out from her cheeks. "Fine then. There may be a few things Mommy and I kept from you, too, and I won't tell you now!"

"I didn't know you had it in you, Clemont," Ash said, grinning once again. "I guess it's my turn now, then." He turned to Pikachu. "Which story should we tell them?"

"Pi pika pi!" Pikachu answered, smiling at his trainer.

"Good idea! Alright so there was this one jigglypuff Pikachu and I met when we were travelling through Kanto with Brock and Misty. The first time we saw it, it couldn't sing, so Brock gave it a berry that helped its throat and it started singing for us. I don't really remember the rest, because as soon as it started singing, we all fell asleep." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "When we woke up, our faces were covered in marker scribbles that we were sure the jigglypuff left as its calling card. That's not the end of it, though; this happened a lot in Kanto, and Brock, Misty and I are all convinced that it followed us to Johto, too. Every time it started singing, we would fall asleep, and every time we woke up, we would have marker all over our faces. I think it wanted to become a singer or something, and then got mad when we fell asleep."

He frowned for a moment. "Y'know, this is the first time in a while I've thought about that jigglypuff. Pikachu and I haven't seen it since. . . wait, was it the same jigglypuff that we saw that one time in Hoenn? You know, with Alanna and her Whismur?" He asked Pikachu. Pikachu thought it over for a moment, then nodded. "We haven't seen it since we were in Hoenn, then. I wonder what happened to it."

"Who knows? Maybe it did become a singer," Serena offered, smiling at the male trainer.

"Maybe. Hopefully it stopped drawing on people's faces. It's not their fault they fell asleep with it's singing; it was the move Sing that did it." Ash shook his head with a small laugh. "It had some pretty big dreams."

"Hey, Ash?" Bonnie asked. "Can you tell us more about your journeys?"

"You really wanna know?" Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena all nodded.

"Of course! I'd love to hear about your adventures," Serena exclaimed.

"All right, then. I'll start with Kanto. . ."

As Ash continued with stories of his adventures, he captured the attention of everyone in the room.

So much so, they didn't notice the large, blue-green eyes inspecting them from a crack in the door.


	3. Monica

Listening to Ash's stories, Serena decided that it was a pretty good way to keep herself distracted. It was also a very good way to get to know more about him. She had already told him just about everything that had ever happened to her- there wasn't much, so it wasn't hard. There was a lot about Ash she felt she didn't know, and now he was telling her, Bonnie, and Clemont, in the form of a story about his adventures.

For hours, Ash talked about his old traveling partners, all the people he'd met, the places he'd been, the gyms he'd challenged, and the pokémon he'd encountered. He'd been in some strange situations, as well as hilarious ones. One of her favorite stories that he'd told so far was the one where he put on a dress and a wig so he could challenge the gym leader Erika- all because he had insulted the perfume she made! He hadn't been able to hide the embarrassment from his voice as he told that one, as much as he had tried to. And every time he couldn't think of another story to tell, Bonnie, Clemont, or Serena would ask him a question about his past journeys, and he would happily remember more stories to tell.

The rain was still coming down strong outside, Serena noticed as she turned her head to look out the window. She was laying on her bed, which she had found to be the most comfortable position to hear stories in. If she closed her eyes, and let Ash's voice wash over her, it was like they were the only two people in the room- or the world.

At least, until his stomach started growling.

"Sorry guys," Ash apologized, laughing and rubbing the back of his head. "How about we take a lunch break?"

"I'll get right on making lunch," Clemont said, standing from his seated position on his bed.

"Actually, I can handle lunch today, if you want," Serena offered with a smile. "I've had this idea for a while, so would it be alright if I made lunch?"

"Sure," Clemont answered, slightly puzzled. Serena knew it was because he usually handled breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and she handled dessert for them and their pokémon, but she really did have a good idea for that particular day.

"Alright then! Bonnie, you can come help if you want," she suggested, taking the smaller bag out of Clemont's larger one that contained their cooking supplies.

"Yes please!" Bonnie exclaimed, hopping off of her bed and following the honey-blonde girl out of the room.

"We'll be in the kitchen," Serena called over her shoulder to the boys. "Meet us in the cafe in twenty minutes!"

"What are we making?" Bonnie asked on their way. Dedenne reflected the young girl's question by climbing out of Bonnie's bag and onto her head.

Serena winked as she answered, "You'll see!" Opening the kitchen door she was now familiar with, she set the bag she was carrying on the counter before taking out Pancham and Fennekin's poké balls and releasing them. Dedenne hopped down from Bonnie's head to join his friends. "Fennekin, Pancham," Serena started, getting out a pot and a pan, "We're making lunch today, alright?" As she got the ingredients she needed from the refrigerator and cupboards, Bonnie tried to get on her tiptoes to see what the older girl was doing.

"Hold on, Bonnie," Serena said, grabbing a small stool from the corner of the room. "Here, you can stand on this so you can see better."

Bonnie stepped up onto the stool, finally able to see what Serena had started on the counter. ". . .Sandwiches?"

"Kind of," Serena answered, taking out a block of cheese from the fridge and cutting thick slices off of it. "We're making grilled cheese and tamato berry soup!"

"That sounds really good!" Bonnie exclaimed in excitement. "Um. . . what is it?"

Serena stopped slicing the cheese, putting down the knife and staring at Bonnie. "Are you telling me you've never had grilled cheese and tamato berry soup before?"

"I don't think I've had it, no."

"Well, then, you are in for a treat! Every rainy day, Mom would make this for me and Dad. . ." Too late, she realized the flaw in her mentioning her father. For hours, she had kept her mind off of him, but the one small slip brought up everything she was trying to avoid. Shaking her head slightly, she continued, "Nobody makes it better than my mom, I'll tell you that."

"Wow, really? So what can I do?" Bonnie's eyes were wide with anticipation. Fennekin, Pancham, and Dedenne hopped up as well, ready to help in whatever way they could.

Feeling like a teacher giving an assignment to a student, which she basically was doing, Serena said, "Bonnie, you can start by finding three cans of tamato berry soup. There should be some in one of the lower cupboards; I think I saw some earlier. Fennekin, can you see if you can find a large tray for me to put this all on when I'm done? And Dedenne and Pancham, if you two can open the soup cans when Bonnie finds them and put the contents in the pot, that would be great."

Bonnie nodded, hopping off of the stool and scouring the contents of the cupboards. Fennekin did her duty as well, opening cupboards and looking for a tray. Dedenne and Pancham waited patiently for Bonnie to finish her task. Serena, in the meanwhile, put together the sandwiches, slathering butter on both sides of the sandwich. Once they were prepared, she turned on the stove, buttering the pan.

"Found them!" Bonnie called out, hurrying over to the counter with the three soup cans. Climbing up on the stool, she set the cans on the counter, leaving Pancham and Dedenne with the task of opening them. Dedenne somehow managed to shock the top off of one of the cans, while Pancham pulled the top off the other two using the pop tab on top. The two pokémon poured the red, thick liquid into the pot, making sure to get all of it out.

"Pan Pancham!" Pancham said, alerting Serena to their finished task.

"Great job!" Serena smiled. "Thanks, you guys!" Leaving the pan to heat up for a second, she filled two of the cans with water and poured them into the pot as well, so as to make sure the soup wasn't too thick or too thin. She then set the pot on the stove and turned the corresponding burner on. "If you two could help Fennekin search, please do. Bonnie, ready for your next task?"

"Yup! What can I do now?" The small lemon-blonde asked.

Putting the first sandwich in the pan to fry, Serena turned to face Bonnie. "Can you bring your stool over here? That way, you can stir the soup to make sure it doesn't burn while I fry the sandwiches."

"Alright!" Bonnie stepped off of the stool and dragged it over to the stove. Once she was safely on it again, Serena gave her a wooden spoon.

"Stir it gently, all right? We don't want it going all over the place," Serena instructed, to which Bonnie responded by nodding and stirring the soup slowly. "And make sure you don't touch the pot or the stove itself; that way you won't get burned."

The time passed quickly, with the sandwiches frying and the soup heating up. It wasn't long before Fennekin, Pancham, and Dedenne found a large enough tray to hold all the food. Bonnie had done a nice job of stirring the soup, making sure it didn't burn. Serena had just started cutting each sandwich in half and placing them on a plate when the door to the kitchen opened.

"Hey, are you-" a girl stood in the door, her cheeks pink as though she had been running. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone else was in here. I'll just go." Her light violet pigtails swayed as she turned to leave.

"No, it's fine," Serena said quickly, slicing the next sandwich. "Can we help you with anything?"

"I was just looking for two of my pokémon," the girl said. "They ran off a couple of hours ago, and I still can't find them. I'm getting kind of worried at this point. . ." She shook her head, as if getting a bad thought out of her head. "Anyways. I thought they might be in here. My name's Monica, by the way."

"I'm Serena, and these are my pokémon, Fennekin and Pancham," Serena introduced. Fennekin and Pancham cried out in greeting.

"I'm Bonnie, and this is Dedenne!" Bonnie exclaimed as Dedenne climbed onto her head.

"It's nice to meet you two," Monica smiled. She hesitated a moment before asking, "You haven't happened to see any pokémon in here, have you?"

"No, sorry," Serena answered, cutting the last sandwich in half. "The only pokémon I've seen in here have been ours."

"Oh. Alright, then. Sorry to bother you," she said, retreating from the doorway. Serena and Bonnie heard her running footsteps travel down the hall before ultimately growing silent.

"I hope she finds her pokémon," Bonnie said, a worried look on her face.

"Me, too," Serena agreed. She stood, looking at the open door for a moment, before setting the container she had put the soup in on the tray and picking it up. "Come on, Bonnie. Let's go meet the boys."

X-X-X

"Wow, Serena, this is really good!" Ash exclaimed, taking a bite of a grilled cheese triangle.

"Thanks, but you're eating it wrong," she informed him. Picking up a piece of her own, she proceeded to show him the right way to eat it. "You need to dip the sandwich in the soup, that way it's not too bland or spicy." Taking a bite, she smiled, satisfied with what she and Bonnie had made.

Ash copied her movement, as did Bonnie and Clemont, and ate their sandwiches. "This is delicious, Serena," Clemont complimented with a grin. "Grilled cheese was always the one food I could never master."

"Thanks, Clemont," Serena said, blushing. "I think Bonnie did a great job on the soup, too!"

Bonnie nodded, taking another bite of her lunch. "It's yummy!" Serena smiled down at the young girl sitting next to her, before stealing a glance at where everyone's pokémon were enjoying their lunch. She had to be sure to keep a close eye on Pancham to make sure he and Chespin didn't get into any more fights. They usually didn't get far with them, but once they had started full-out battling. . . well, let's just say neither party had received any treats for a while after that.

Now, however, all of the pokémon were eating peacefully. Pikachu, who was usually one of the first to break up any fights, made sure to sit in between Pancham and Chespin, keeping a sharp eye on both.

Of course, this did nothing to stop a blue glow from encasing Chespin's food and making it float.

"Ches!" Chespin exclaimed angrily, trying to grab at the food and catching the attention of Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena. The floating mass of pokémon food floated through the air, with Chespin following behind it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Clemont asked, immediately standing to catch Chespin before it ran off. "Chespin! Come back!"

"If he's not gonna come back, might as well chase him," Bonnie muttered, getting up and running after her brother's mischievous pokémon. Serena and Ash soon followed, with Clemont bringing up the back.

"Fennekin, Pancham, stay there! We'll be back in a minute!" Serena called over her shoulder.

"Fletchinder, Hawlucha, Frogadier, Goomy! You guys stay, too!" Ash called, Pikachu already catching up to him.

"You too, Luxio and Bunnelby!" Clemont added, already out of breath from the running.

He didn't have to run far, though. As soon as the food and Chespin turned the corner, it was easy for Bonnie and the other trainers to catch up to them. Chespin had stopped in his tracks, staring at the mass of food now floating into the mouth of a lone munna.


	4. One in the Same

"What's that pokémon?" Bonnie asked, tugging on Clemont's sleeve.

"That's a munna," Serena answered, taking out her pokédex to enter its data. She recognized the pokémon species from a picture book she had read when she was much younger.

_"Munna, the Dream Eater pokémon,"_ her pokédex stated as the munna started eating the food it had stolen from Chespin. _"It eats the dreams of people and pokémon. When it eats a pleasant dream, it expels pink-colored mist."_

"What's a munna doing here?" Ash wondered aloud. "They're usually found in Unova, and even then, you don't see them often."

Bonnie carefully approached the munna. "Hey there, I'm Bonnie. Do you have a trainer?"

Swallowing its last bite of food, the pokémon nodded. "Mun!"

"So you're lost, then?" Clemont asked. Munna nodded once again. "Why don't you come back with us, and we can see if we can find your trainer?"

"You won't be looking for long," a voice said from behind them. The group of four turned to see Nurse Joy standing behind them. "I was just talking to a young lady who mentioned that her munna had run off. If you'll stay here with it, I can contact her to tell her where you all are."

"That would be great; thank you, Nurse Joy!" Ash said, giving a smile to the pink-haired nurse. "We'll be back in the common area; all our pokémon are waiting for us there."

"Of course," Nurse Joy smiled back. "It's my duty to help in any way I can, after all!" She walked off to page the munna's trainer over the intercom, leaving Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie coaxing the munna over to where they were eating earlier.

"Don't worry, your trainer will be here soon," Bonnie reassured softly, walking alongside the munna, which floated towards her, getting the small girl to pet it. "Hey, I think it likes me!" She giggled as they neared their group of pokémon.

"I wonder how it got lost in the first place?" Clemont wondered as they drew nearer. Before anyone could supply a plausible answer, the sound of running footsteps interrupted their thoughts.

"Flora! I'm- here- Flora," a female voice said from behind the group. Serena turned to see Monica breathing heavily, her hands on her knees. "I'm sorry; I'm her trainer."

"Monica?" Bonnie asked with a smile. The munna floated away from her, colliding with her trainer and almost sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Bonnie," Monica said, nodding in the lemon-blonde's direction after she righted herself. "And Serena. I didn't think we'd be meeting again so soon."

"You two know her?" Ash asked, looking between the girls with a confused look.

"She came into the kitchen while Bonnie and I were making lunch looking for her pokémon," Serena informed him and Clemont. She looked to Monica with a semi-confused look. "Didn't you say that you had two missing pokémon. . . ?"

"Not 'missing' so much as 'ran off,' but yeah. Flora here is one of them, but I haven't found my other pokémon, Star, yet." The aqua-green-eyed girl glanced at her munna. "I thought she'd be with Flora, but apparently not."

Seeing their trainers talking to a new person, Ash, Clemont, and Serena's pokémon bounded over to them, all curious.

Monica giggled as she saw how the group's pokémon interacted with their trainers. Serena looked up from where she was crouched, petting Fennekin, and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry; they're acting like they haven't seen us in a week! I'll bet they're just curious about you, though; other than Fennekin, Pancham, and Dedenne, they haven't met you yet."

"It's fine; Flora and Star act the same way!" Monica exclaimed. Crouching so that she was at the height of most of the group's pokémon, she waved at them. "Hi, everyone! I'm Monica, and this is my munna, Flora."

Ash and Clemont's pokémon, who hadn't met her yet, all said their hellos. "We haven't introduced ourselves, either. I'm Ash, and this is my buddy Pikachu," to which Pikachu exclaimed his greeting from Ash's shoulder, "and Hawlucha, Frogadier, Fletchinder, and Goomy!"

"And I'm Clemont, and my pokémon are Bunnelby and Luxio," Clemont introduced with a smile. Next to him, Bonnie's eyes lit up.

"Hey! I didn't think of this earlier!" She hurriedly got onto one knee in from of Monica, one arm outstretched. "You're a keeper! Would you please take care of my brother?"

"Bonnie!" Clemont, who had taken off his backpack with the aipom arm, settled for taking Bonnie's hand and leading her away. "I've told you a million times to stop that! I'm sorry for that, Monica."

Although she wore an inquisitive look in her face, Monica said, "No, it's fine. I get where she's coming from; you probably want to be a trainer, right Bonnie? Then you'll be able to travel across so many regions, but then you'll be worried about Clemont if he doesn't have someone you deem reliable looking after him. Did I get all that right?"

"Perfectly," Bonnie said in awe. She started squirming happily in Clemont's grip. "Wow! You really _are_ a keeper! Pretty please consider looking after my brother!"

Clemont's face became a bright red. "Bonnie! Please stop! I can look after myself!"

Monica giggled a bit, her gaze shifting to make sure Munna was still in her sights. Once she saw her greeting everyone's pokémon, she said, "I actually used to do that for my best friend when we were younger. We were pretty inseparable, and I wanted to make sure she had someone to watch after her once I left the region." Her eyes clouded over with emotion. "I miss those days."

Any questions the group might've had for their new friend went unanswered as Ash's stomach grumbled. "Heh, I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "We didn't finish our lunch yet."

"Would you like to join us, Monica?" Serena offered with a smile. "We have plenty of food left, and some for Munna, too."

"Actually, that would be great, thanks," Monica accepted. "I've been so busy looking for Flora and Star that I haven't really eaten today."

"Come on; we're right over here!" Bonnie had broken out of Clemont's grip and took the purple-haired girl's hand, leading her over to their table. "Serena and I made grilled cheese and tamato berry soup!"

"Really? That's always been my favorite!"

Serena, Ash, Clemont, and their pokémon followed the two girls, and Serena quickly got out another plate and bowl for their new friend.

"Here you go," Serena said, placing the plate and bowl in front of Monica.

"Thank you so much!" Monica wasted no time dipping her grilled cheese triangle in her soup, just like Serena had instructed everyone to do earlier. "This is really good!"

"Thanks, Monica! So, where are you from?" Serena inquired, taking a bite of her own sandwich.

"Unova. Nuvema Town, to be more specific," she answered. "My friend and I always loved walking around the town on nice days." She frowned. "I kind of wish she were here right now. Anyways, where are you all from?"

"I'm from Vaniville Town, here in Kalos," Serena answered, silently wondering about the friend Monica had brought up twice now.

"Bonnie and I are from Lumiose City," Clemont answered, swallowing another bite of his lunch.

"Clemont's actually the gym leader there!" Bonnie exclaimed, looking up at Monica. "Except now we're traveling with Ash and Serena, so Clembot, this robot Clemont made, is taking care of the gym."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Monica looked at Ash. "How about you? Where are you from?"

"I'm from Pallet Town, all the way in Kanto," Ash said through a full mouth of food, earning a disapproving glare from Serena. He laughed it off, however, opting to take another bite of his lunch.

"Wow, you've come a long way, then, haven't you?" Monica noted, finishing off her soup and sandwich. Serena noticed that she was almost as fast an eater as Ash was, which was an impressive feat.

"You could say that, yeah!" By now, everyone was finished with their lunch. Clemont gathered everyone's plates and went to wash them off. Serena usually did this job after Clemont made lunch, but he insisted that he do it since she had made lunch. If she was being honest, she was glad that he had insisted; she probably would've taken forever, and she wanted to get to know Monica a little better while their pokémon got to know each other.

"So, Monica," Ash asked before Serena could get the chance to say anything. "Who was your first pokémon? Mine's Pikachu, my best bud."

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu exclaimed, smiling at Ash. It was plain to anyone who even glanced at them that they had a long history and were the best of friends; nothing could ever change that.

"Flora's actually my first Pokémon," Monica answered, shooting a smile to the Dream Eater pokémon. "My friend and I befriended her a few months prior to me leaving Nuvema Town. She had somehow wandered down from the Dreamyard by Striaton City, and my friend and I found her and fed her berries. My mom wanted me to get a started Pokémon from Professor Juniper, but I decided to catch Flora instead."

"What about your friend? Didn't she want to catch Flora too?" Bonnie asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes as she watched all the pokémon playing.

The smile slipped off of her face. "Oh. Um. . . it's kind of complicated, and I don't really want to get into it right now. But no, she didn't catch Flora, so I did, and she's been travelling with me ever since."

Realizing that her friend was probably a sensitive subject, Serena decided to change the subject. "So are you taking on the gym challenge, or are you taking your own path?"

The little glitter in her eyes returned once again. "I actually want to be a singer. I make Poké Vision videos when I can, starring me, Flora, and Star. I'm hoping one of them will win the first spot on the countdown, or go viral. I've wanted to be a singer ever since I was little." She gave Serena a small wink. "I'm very into Poké Vision, so don't think I didn't see your video! I loved it, by the way. But yeah, I am taking on some of the gyms in my free time, just to become stronger with my partners. Speaking of. . . I should probably return to looking for Star now. I'm really starting to get worried; when she or Flora run off, I've usually found them both by now."

It was then that Clemont returned, placing the clean dishes back into his bag. "Did I miss much?" He asked, turning to face the girls and Ash.

"Just some getting-to-know-you stuff," Serena answered with a smile.

"Hey, Monica," Bonnie said, drawing the attention of the Unovian girl. "Can we help look for Star?"

"You want to?" Serena, Bonnie, Clemont and Ash all nodded.

"Of course; we want you to find Star, and you'll find her sooner if we help," Ash responded.

"Thank you guys so much!" She stood, Flora floating beside her. "Come on, I just need to grab something from my room, and then we can be off!"

Serena, Clemont, and Ash recalled their Pokémon before following Monica and Flora. Winding through the halls of the Pokémon Center, they reached Monica's room in not time. "You guys can come in if you want," Monica offered, opening the door. "I won't take long, but. . ." Something inside the room seemed to catch her eye, and she stopped in the doorway. "Star?" Serena couldn't see anything from her angle, although Monica was convinced Star was in her room.

She quickly entered the room, surrounded by everyone else. "Were you here the whole time? How many times have I asked you and Flora not to run off?" She lamented, stooping down to pick something up. "I've been looking everywhere, only to find that you've been hiding in the room the entire time!" She turned around, grinning. "Everyone, this is Star!" Resting in her arms was an adorable jigglypuff holding a microphone, it's blue-green eyes shining mischievously.

"It's so cute!" Bonnie exclaimed, stepping forward to pet the jigglypuff, who leaned forward in Monica's arms to reach the girl's touch.

Much to Serena's surprise, as soon as Ash got a good look at Star, his eyes widened, and he smiled a little, shaking his head in what appeared to be disbelief. "Pikachu, is that. . ." he started.

"Pika," Pikachu confirmed from his spot on Ash's shoulder.

"Ash? Is something wrong?" Serena asked, gently touching his arm. Clemont and Monica also looked at him strangely, while Bonnie continued to pet Star, who seemed to be staring straight at Ash and Pikachu.

"Remember that jigglypuff I told you all about earlier? The one that followed me and my old friends across three regions?" He asked, staring right back at Star.

"Yeah, why?" Bonnie asked distractedly, stroking Star's fur gingerly.

"That's the same jigglypuff."


	5. Star Power

"I'm sorry, what?" Monica looked between the three trainers and Bonnie. "I don't understand."

"It's a long story," Ash admitted, still studying the jigglypuff in her arms. "But I know that's the same jigglypuff."

Monica looked down curiously at Star. "Do you know what he's talking about, Star? Do you know him and his old friends?"

Staring now at Pikachu, Star nodded. "Puff jiggly puff," she said in affirmation.

"I still don't know what you're talking about, but she does seem to know you," Monica said. "Can you maybe tell me where you know her from?"

"Sure," Ash started. "We-"

"Maybe we should do this in our room?" Clemont interrupted, glancing around Monica's single room. "It's bigger."

"Sorry, yeah, that's a good idea," Monica agreed, following them out. Serena couldn't help but feel that Star's large eyes were peering at her, but she quickly shook it off. So maybe that jigglypuff had run into Ash and his friends a few times and sang them to sleep and then drew on their faces. That didn't necessarily mean that Star was evil. jigglypuff often enjoyed singing for people anyways, right? And because of their voices, the people hearing them would fall asleep. Total coincidence. Still, there was something about Star that made Serena feel a bit on edge. . .

It wasn't too long before the got to their room; they were actually only a few rooms down from Monica's.

"Monica, you can sit on my bed with me!" Bonnie offered, showing the trainer to her bed. "Star and Flora, too!"

"Thanks, Bonnie," Monica said, next to the lemon-blonde girl, sitting with her legs curled under her. Star hopped out of her arms, revealing the bright red music note on Monica's otherwise blue shirt. Star moved, sitting near Bonnie so Bonnie could pet her. Flora did the same, floating down next to Bonnie and closing her eyes.

Serena sat on her bed too, her legs also curled under her. "So Monica, when did you meet Jigglypuff?"

The purple-haired trainer tilted her head, thinking. "Flora and I were in Nacrene City. There was this old, abandoned art studio near the Pokémon Center, and some locals had told us that there were often strange noises that came out of it. They said it sounded kind of like singing, but anyone who went in to check it out would come out an hour or so later with marker all over their face, as well as no recollection of who drew on them." She shrugged. "I thought I'd check it out, y'know, because I want to be a singer. I figured, hey, if there's a Pokémon in there that can sing, I want it on my team.

"So I went in there with Flora and took a look around. There was this large makeshift stage against one of the walls, built out of empty crates, and it had a really messy paint job, like a bunch of berries were just mashed up and smeared all over it. Flora and I looked around, but we didn't see anything. We were just about to leave when the singing started, coming from the stage. We looked over, and Star was there, singing into her little microphone. I fell asleep almost instantly, but Flora was able to use Protect to stop her from falling asleep.

"Star was impressed with her not falling asleep, so she decided to not draw all over my face. She and Flora. . . bonded, I guess, while I was sleeping. She wouldn't let us leave the studio until I caught her." Monica smiled fondly at Star. "And the rest, I guess, is history."

"That's an interesting story," Clemont commented. "Star's move Sing will put most people and pokémon to sleep upon hearing it, so she was probably surprised that Flora was able to use Protect in time to stay awake. I would guess that it doesn't often happen that anyone would stay awake for her entire performance."

"It doesn't," Ash interrupted. "At least, not that I've known."

"That's right; how did you and Star meet?" Monica asked, turning her head to the raven-haired trainer.

"You were pretty vague earlier," Serena added. "I'd like to hear the whole story."

"Me too, me too!" Bonnie cheered, excited at the idea of another one of Ash's stories.

The said trainer chuckled. "All right. So Pikachu and our friends Misty, Brock, and I saw Star on a stump in Kanto one day. Misty had heard that jigglypuffs have gorgeous voices, so she tried catching it. When she found out that Star couldn't sing, she stopped, though. Then Team Rocket- this group of bad guys who like stealing other people's pokémon," he clarified for Monica. "They tried to steal her, but Brock, Misty, and I stopped them. Afterward, Brock gave her a berry that healed her throat, and she put on a performance for us. Needless to say, we fell asleep, and woke up with marker all over our faces. I don't know where she got the marker. . ." He paused a moment, turning his attention to Star. "Wait. I think that was around the time the marker I had in my bag went missing. Was that you?"

Star considered the marker she held in her hand before nodding. "Puff jiggly."

"Anyways, we figured that she wanted to find an audience that wouldn't fall asleep during her performance, but none of our pokémon could stay awake. She then put on a performance for Neon Town, but not one single person was awake for it. We parted ways after that, but she kept showing up in random places. The last time we saw her was in Hoenn, when my friends Brock, May, Max, and I went to a Trick House for a competition in Mauville City. There was another girl there, too, named Alanna. We split into two groups- Brock and Max went one way, and I went with May and Alanna. A little bit into the Trick House, James and Meowth from Team Rocket stole Alanna's Whismur, but before we could start looking for it, Star showed up, sang us to sleep, and drew on our faces. We met back up with Brock and Max afterwards, and kept looking for Whismur. Alanna spotted it finally, and thanked Team Rocket- they were in disguise, so none of us recognized them- for finding it, and that's when Star showed up again. We all fell asleep, except for Whismur because of it's ability of Soundproof.

"A few rooms later, Team Rocket tricked us into being tied up and stole Pikachu and Whismur. They were boasting about finally winning, but I got one of my hands free and called out my Corphish, who cut us free and attacked James' Cacnea with a Crabhammer. Cacnea bumped into Meowth, who let go of the bag, releasing Pikachu and Whismur. Long story short there, we defeated them and got out of the Trick House. We didn't win, but Alanna was just glad she got to spend some time with Whismur. Anyways, we had just said our goodbyes when Star showed up a third time and sang us to sleep again. That was the last time I saw her."

"Wow." Serena was stunned by this story. Who knew one jigglypuff could cause that much trouble?

"Star, you've always wanted to be a singer, then? Is that why you wanted to come with me?" Monica asked her jigglypuff, who nodded in response. "But wait. I didn't tell you that I wanted to be a singer. How did you know?"

"Jiggly jig," Star said, pointing to Flora.

"Oh, did she tell you while I was sleeping?" Star and Flora both nodded. "That explains that, then."

"That was quite some story," Clemont said. "So not a lot of people or pokémon have stayed awake for her singing, then, right?"

"Almost none, as far as I can tell," Monica admitted. "Only Flora and the Whismur that Ash talked about. Everyone else I know has fallen asleep during her performances."

"Still, I'll bet Star has an amazing voice!" Bonnie exclaimed with a smile. Star smiled at her before climbing onto Monica's lap, positioning her marker like a microphone.

"Wait, Star, don't-" Monica started, recognizing what was about to happen.

Taking a deep breath, Star began to sing, her eyes closed. "Jigglypuff, jiggly puff!"

Serena yawned, her eyes drooping. "Maybe she won't. . . draw on us. . . this time," Ash said groggily.

"Flora. . . use Protect. . ." Monica commanded before slumping onto the bed next to Bonnie, asleep.

Serena fought to stay awake, but the song was just too much like a lullaby. With one final yawn, she fell back onto the bed, her eyes closed.

X-X-X

_Are you done yet?_ Flora asked, struggling to keep up her Protect.

Star surveyed the room before ending her song. _Yes. They're all asleep._

_Aren't you mad?_ Flora released the Protect, floating tentatively towards Star. _I thought you didn't like it when people fall asleep during your performance._

_Not this time. I have a plan, and you're going to help me with it._ Star looked at Monica for a moment.

_Plan? But-_ Flora gasped a little. _You don't mean- but Monica doesn't like it when we do this! She doesn't want to lose any more friends, okay? We can't do this to her, not now!_

_Relax. I know what I'm doing. Or rather, I know what you'll be doing,_ Star chided. _I've waited forever for this. The last time we did this was so long ago, and I just want to make someone pay for not staying awake. Is that too much to ask?_

_Yes. Yes, it is, and this is not right at all!_ Flora exclaimed. _I won't do it._

_You act as if you have a choice._

_And you act like a bully! I don't know what happened to the sweet Star I met in Nacrene City, but it sure isn't you,_ Flora shouted.

Star's blue-green eyes hardened, her cheeks puffed up; a tell-tale sign that she was angry. _Flora. Do it. Don't make me use my Cute Charm._

_That doesn't always work, and you know it! Look, Star, Monica has found some great friends in these people. She'll be devastated if she lost them because you made me do this. She's lost enough friends already._

Star was done listening. She readied her weakest Pound attack, catching Flora off-guard. 'Work, Cute Charm, work!' She thought as the attack made contact. Instantly, little pink hearts floated around Flora, indicating that she was now infatuated.

_Now,_ Star said with a smile. _Who should our victim be? I want it to be someone really close to Ash. . . The other boy isn't close enough to him, and neither is the little girl. . . that leaves the one with the red sweater._ She turned to Flora. _Go ahead. Use Nightmare on the girl in the red sweater._

Seemingly against her will, mainly because it was, Flora floated over to Serena, using Nightmare. Almost immediately after she was done, the infatuation faded. Star! Flora cried angrily. _Serena doesn't deserve this!_

_You know some of our moves work differently on humans,_ Star said nonchalantly. _It's not like it'll hurt her. And it's not like it's all negative, either. There should be some positive stuff in there somewhere._

_Maybe it won't hurt physically, but what about mentally?_ Flora argued. _You shouldn't have done this, Star._

_Too late now. Hurry, get back over here; I think they're waking up._

X-X-X

"Everyone alright?" Monica yawned, pushing herself up from her lying position. Next to her, Bonnie stirred, sitting up as well. Ash and Clemont sat up as well.

"I'm good," Bonnie said groggily, checking in her purse for her Dedenne. "Big brother?"

"I'm fine, too," Clemont reported. "Ash?"

"I'm good, and by the looks of it, Star didn't draw on us for once," Ash commented. Next to him, Pikachu stretched with a yawn. "Serena? You okay?"

No response. 'No, not now,' Monica thought urgently. 'Please, not now!'

Ash frowned, looking over at the honey blonde's bed. "Serena?"

Still nothing.

Everyone got up, going over to Serena's bed. Ash lightly shook her. "Serena? Wake up!"

Serena didn't move or give any sign that she was waking up. "Oh, God," Monica muttered. "Star! Flora! I thought we talked about this!"

"What are you talking about, Monica?" Clemont asked.

"I-I. . ." Monica's eyes started filling with tears. She didn't want to lose these friends; they were so nice! Why did Star and Flora have to ruin this friendship? "It's complicated."

"Do you know what's wrong with Serena?" Ash asked, a look of urgency on his face. It was clear to Monica that Serena meant a lot to him.

"I think. . . please, tell me. . . does she have a lot of bad memories?" Monica wished that she didn't have to have this conversation with them at all.

"Yes," Ash answered, contrary to the shaking heads of Clemont and Bonnie. "Why? What's going on?"

"It's. . . oh, Arceus. . . I'm pretty sure Star made Flora use Nightmare on her." Yep, those tears were definitely building up now.

"So. . . is she caught in a nightmare, then?" Bonnie asked, worry filling her features for the trainer.

"No." Monica whispered. "She's stuck in her memories."


	6. Dreamworld

"Where. . . where am I?"

It was a stupid question, really; Serena knew where she was when she took in her surroundings after waking up. She didn't know how she had gotten there, or why she was there. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep during Star's performance, and now. . .

She blinked her bleary eyes, recognizing the area around her. Now she was in Vaniville Town, at her old school.

"Ash?" She called out, pushing herself off of the soft grass and looking around. She noticed that she was right next to the school's playground. She felt around the pockets sewn into her leggings, but didn't feel her poké balls inside them. "Bonnie? Clemont? Monica?"

Nobody answered. Nervously, Serena stood up and made her way to a bench next to the playground she and Calem had loved so much when they were younger. She had practically memorized this place, having spent so much time there before. With the sun shining down, warming her face, it was like it was the middle of summer, not winter. The light breeze blowing in the air didn't hurt, either. It was hard to believe that on a day like this, nobody was outside playing.

"Serena!"

. . .Wait a minute. She knew that voice. Serena gazed down the path leading to the playground, deep in thought. She hadn't heard that voice in a while, not for a few years at least. If it was who she thought it was. . . but no. She knew it couldn't be who she thought it was, because-

"Serena, wait up!" A five-year-old Calem called, his already messed-up brown hair becoming even more tousled as he ran to catch up with Serena's five-year-old self.

"What's going on?" Serena whispered to herself, watching the two young kids chase each other down to the play area. She remembered this day; it was Calem's fifth birthday. How did she remember it so distinctively? Instead of a party, he has wanted to play at the playground the entire day with her. They had gone outside to play with their parents and didn't go back inside until nightfall. It was one of the best days she had when she was younger; nothing felt better than to run around outside with the wind blowing her hair everywhere. Granted, she did usually have her hat on, so it didn't get completely messed up.

"Catch me if you can, slowpoke!" The younger Serena happily called over her shoulder, racing at top speed to her favorite piece of equipment: the swings.

Serena watched, recalling the elated feeling she had when she had hopped onto the swings that day. She couldn't figure out why she was in this memory, or why she was even in one of her memories at all. She wondered briefly if this was one of the side effects of Star's move Sing; maybe it made her dream memories. She silently thanked herself for changing out of her skirt; if she was going to be asleep for awhile, she might as well be comfortable.

Calmly, she walked over to where the swings were, abandoning her seat on the bench. She touched the cool metal pole of the equipment, peering at the kids as they started pumping their legs, each trying to get higher than the other. If this really was her memory, then her parents and Calem's parents should be coming any second now.

"Calem, Serena! We'll be over here, alright?" Serena turned her head, seeing Calem's dad waving at them with a smile.

"Okay, Dad!" Calem called back, not pausing from his swinging. Serena's attention lingered on the adults for a moment. There was Calem's mom with her auburn hair, and next to her was Serena's mom, setting down a picnic blanket, and there, walking up to Calem's dad. . .

She quickly averted her gaze, the sight of her dad bringing tears to her eyes. This was. . . oh, about a year before the accident. She couldn't bring herself to look at his happy, smiling face while knowing what the future held for him. It just didn't seem right.

"Calem, look there!" Little Serena's voice snapped Serena out of her stupor. If she was going to be stuck in this memory, she might as well pay attention to it. She'd probably be back with her friends as soon as it was over.

Following little Serena's pointed finger, Serena's and Calem's eyes settled on a nest of fletchling in one of the nearby trees. "Yeah, what about them?" He asked, his eyes still trained on them as he continued swinging.

"They look so happy together," little Serena simply stated.

"I'm gonna catch a fletchling when I'm a trainer," Calem decided. "Only five more years!"

"You're not gonna leave me, are you?" Little Serena asked, her eyes wide as she gazed at her best friend.

"'Course not! I'll take you with me," Calem answered, swinging higher and higher. "It'll get you out of those stinky rhyhorn racing lessons that your momma wants you to take."

Serena smiled wryly. Even though that was what Calem had promised, Serena turned down his offer to travel with him, not knowing what she wanted to do. Her mom also would've said no anyways, she had thought. However, she knew now that her mom probably wouldn't have stopped her from going.

"Yes, please!" Little Serena exclaimed. "I dunno why she wants me to take 'em, I told her before I don't wanna!"

"We'll travel all across Kalos," Calem fantasized. "We'll be the best trainers ever!"

"Hey, kids! If you want some cake, you might want to come eat it now before your dads get to it!" Calem's mom called from the picnic blanket.

Little Serena and Calem looked at each other, calling out "Race you!" at the same time, hopping off of the swings and running towards their parents- and, of course, the cake.

Serena wanted to follow them, to play through the rest of this day. When she tried walking, though, she found herself rooted to the spot she was standing.

"Is the dream ending now?" She wondered aloud. Her surroundings shifted, a dark purple engulfing everything around her. "Wh- what's happening?"

She closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, she'd be back with her friends and away from this strange dream.

When she did open her eyes, however, all she saw was the dark purple swirling into different scenery.

X-X-X

"What do you mean, 'stuck in her memories?'" Clemont asked, astonished. Monica's tear-filled eyes swept across her newfound friends. Clemont appeared to be baffled by the possibility of this situation; Bonnie seemed to be stunned into silence; and Ash. . . well, it was hard to tell what Ash was thinking.

"First things first," Monica managed, turning around and setting her sights on the perpetrators. She pulled their poké balls from her pocket and enlarged them before saying, "Star, Flora, return." The twin beams of red light shot out from the balls, and in an instant, Star and Flora were inside them. "This way, they won't be able to cause any more trouble."

"So. . . how is Serena stuck in her memories?" Ash repeated, not taking his eyes off of the sleeping girl. Pikachu sat on the bed next to him, also looking worried.

"Well. . . some pokémon moves do have a different affect on humans," Monica started, the tears in her eyes beginning to subside. "If it was a pokémon that had Nightmare used on it, it would suffer damage from a nightmare. With humans. . . Flora, Star and I found out before that they just get trapped in some of their memories, a mixture of good and bad. If the person has more bad memories than good, though, they'll be shown more bad than good. That's why I asked if Serena had a lot of bad memories." She took a deep breath before rushing on. "It's not permanent, it doesn't even last that long, only about an hour or two. I am very very sorry that Star and Flora did this, I keep telling them to stop, but they just won't listen to me."

Nobody spoke for a minute. Finally, after what seemed to Monica like an eternity, Bonnie spoke up. "It's okay, Monica."

She looked down at the lemon-blonde kid. "But. . . aren't you guys mad?"

To her surprise, Bonnie kept going. "Well, you didn't tell Star and Flora to do this, did you?"

"Of course not."

Bonnie shrugged, a light smile playing on her face. Her dedenne climbed onto the bed from her bag, sitting itself next to Pikachu and leaning against it. "Then how can we blame you? It's not your fault."

"Bonnie's right," Clemont added, "although I am curious as to why Star and Flora might not listen to you."

"I'm not mad either," Ash said, finally tearing his eyes from Serena. "I mean, part of it is good, in a way. Serena got up super early this morning, so she couldn't have gotten a lot of sleep. She also told me that she wanted to keep herself busy today, to keep her mind off of something that's been bothering her. So I guess this is a good way for her to do that." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "I am a bit worried about the reliving memories part, though."

"Yeah, why is that?" Clemont questioned. "You said she had quite a few bad memories. Did she tell you about them?"

"Some. That was part of the reason she wanted to be occupied. I hope she sees more good than bad," he finished, his gaze once again set on Serena.

Monica realized she hadn't said anything in a bit. "I. . . thank you for not being mad. I mean, Star and Flora. . . They've done this to a few other people, people that would've been my friends if they hadn't done this to them. I guess. . . I'm kind of used to losing friends from this kind of situation."

"Don't worry, you're stuck with us!" Bonnie exclaimed, her smile brightening even more.

"Thanks, Bonnie," Monica said, smiling as well. "You guys are stuck with me too, then."

"Not to change the subject, but do you happen to know the reason behind Star and Flora acting like this?" Clemont asked, the glare in his glasses hiding his blue eyes.

"Not really, no," Monica responded uncertainly. "They'll listen to me when we're in battle, but they won't listen outside of that. They constantly wander off on their own when we're in the middle of filming Poké Vision videos, or anytime, actually. They'll just roam around, and it takes me forever to find them."

Clemont put his hand to his chin, thinking hard. "It could be because-"

"Guys?" Ash interrupted, drawing their attention. "What's happening to Serena?"

Indeed, something was occurring to the sleeping girl. She was shrouded in a dark purple mist, curling in little wisps around her.

"That's a change in memory," Monica stated, recognizing it on sight. "One of two mists will form around her when her memory is changing. A light violet-pink is a good memory."

"So the dark purple. . ." Bonnie started, her eyes glued to Serena.

". . .means a bad memory is coming," Monica finished.


	7. Thoughts of Home

"A bad memory as in a nightmare-like memory?" Clemont inquired, concern for Serena etching itself into his expression. His little sister mimicked his expression, though instead of her eyes flitting towards Serena, they landed on Ash instead, whose face was lined with worry.

"Well, actually, bad is a general term," Monica corrected herself. "It's just bad in comparison to the happier memories, although it could be a sad memory, an angry memory, or a bitter memory. Hopefully, this one is one of the latter."

"Yeah, hopefully," Ash agreed. Something about his expression told Monica that he knew more about Serena's memories than Clemont and Bonnie.

"Ash, Serena's gonna be fine," Bonnie assured him with the ghost of a smile. Dedenne scurried onto her shoulder, agreeing with his [almost] trainer.

Ash let out a puff of air. "Yeah, you're probably right. There's just something. . ." he trailed off before shaking his head. "Nah, you're right. I just need to take my mind off of this."

"Easy," Bonnie said with a sly smile. "How 'bout you tell Monica aaaallllll about you and Serena?"

Playing along, Monica smirked as well as Ash went red. "Oh yeah, this'll be good," she joked. Ash laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Pikachu hit him playfully, a teasing smile on his face as well.

"Or," Clemont interrupted, "we could figure out why Star and Flora don't always listen to Monica."

"Yeah," Monica agreed, throwing an apologetic look in Bonnie's direction and pretending not to notice the breath of relief that came from Ash at the change in topic. "That would be nice, too."

"Well, then," Clemont smirked, his glasses flashing white. "The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic gear, on!"

"What's going on?" Monica whispered, leaning over to Bonnie. Ash got up and moved towards Clemont, a gleam obvious in his eyes.

"Another one of my brother's inventions," Bonnie muttered back, seemingly unimpressed.

"I thought we'd encounter a situation precisely like this one!" He exclaimed, a strange-looking device out in front of him. Monica counted no fewer than three arms, one hat-like thing, and five wires running from the arms and hat over onto a blank television-like screen. "I call it the Pokémon Mind Reader!"

"I still need to get him to work on the names," Bonnie confided in Monica, who let out a small giggle.

"Wow! Science is so amazing!" Ash exclaimed.

"Pi pika pi!" Pikachu cried out, just as excited as his Trainer.

"With the Pokémon Mind Reader, we'll be able to translate Flora and Star's thoughts and read them on the screen," the lemon-blonde inventor explained. He pressed a button, firing up the television and making the arms of the machine glow. "Shall we begin?"

"Um, okay," Monica said uncertainly, taking out and enlarging Flora's poké ball. "Let's start with Flora first, okay? She's more likely to cooperate." She tossed the poké ball into the air, which opened and released a white light before Flora was in place, floating above the ground with a guilty expression on her face. Monica approached her gingerly, not wanting to act rash.

"Flora, we're gonna ask you some questions, 'kay?" she asked softly.

"Muuu?" Flora inquired hesitantly, her eyes set on the Pokémon Mind Reader.

Following her gaze, Monica smiled a bit. "Yeah, with that we'll be able to see what you're thinking. What do you say?"

With one extra look at the machine, Flora nodded, determination in her eyes. "Mun."

"Good, good. Come on over here," Clemont said, ready to test out his invention. Flora complied, floating over to him, and in under a minute all the wires and arms were connected and ready.

"First things first," he started. "You met Monica in Nuvema Town, right?"

A bit of feedback crackled on the screen before Flora's answer appeared. 'Yes, her and her friend and her friend's brother. She and her friend took care of me.'

"It actually works," Monica said incredulously.

"Of course it does! Next, Monica said that you often get out of your poké ball and wander around. Is there a reason for that?"

Flora considered this for a second before her answer appeared. _'Sometimes I miss the times from before Monii and I left Nuvema Town, when I could wander wherever I wanted anytime I wanted.'_

"Monii?" Ash wondered aloud, looking between Pokémon and Trainer.

Monica blushed a bit. "My friend's nickname for me," she recalled. "Haven't heard it in a while." She paused a moment before asking, "Flora, why don't you often listen to me outside of battle? I mean, you used to, back when we were first starting out, but lately. . ."

Flora's thoughts interrupted her. _'I don't know, really. I guess sometimes I feel like we should be doing something else at a given time, and I can't get it out of my mind. I miss Nuvema Town and Hildii, too. . . But believe me, it's not always voluntary.'_

"Who's Hildii?" Bonnie asked Monica.

"My nickname for my friend," the purple-haired Trainer answered. "Hilda's her name. Flora, I promise I'll pay more attention to what you and Star want to do, alright? Maybe we can even go home and visit Hildii and Mom sometime. Would you like that?"

Flora's expression turned elated. _'Yes yes yes! But. . .'_ Flora grew somber, her attention on Serena. _'Aren't you mad about her?'_

"A little," Monica admitted, "but we're all still friends, don't worry!"

"Of course," Ash answered, the carefree smile Monica had seen on him much earlier returning. "Could you tell us why you did it, though?"

_'It wasn't voluntary, I swear! Star just. . . she has a way of getting me to do what she wants, even if I don't want to. Her ability.'_

"Cute Charm," Monica realized. "It infatuates opponents occasionally upon attacking them."

_'Yeah. She uses Pound lightly hoping for it to work, and then she tells me what to do,'_ Flora clarified. _'She knows I don't want to use Nightmare on people on purpose. I'm just super glad it doesn't show all bad memories. Even though it wasn't me, I'm still sorry.'_

"It's alright," Clemont told the pokémon. "Serena's strong; she'll be fine." Monica could've sworn she saw slight doubt flash across Ash's face before disappearing. "Is that everything you want to say?"

_'One more thing.'_ Flora looked Monica straight in the eye. _'Monii, I think you should tell them about you and Hildii.'_ Monica opened her mouth to interrupt, but Flora continued. _'I know you don't like to talk about it, but talking about things will help. At least, I heard someone say that back in Castelia City in Unova. Funny how many conversations you can hear in a big city like that.'_ She turned back to Clemont. _'That's it, science-boy. Thanks for the chance to get my thoughts across.'_

"My name's Clemont," Clemont reminded the munna, unstrapping the hat thing and wires. "And you're welcome."

"Come here, Flora," Monica said, her arms outstretched. Flora flew into them, and they crashed onto a bed in a giant hug.

"Aww, that's great!" Bonnie cheered for them.

"De nenne!" Dedenne cheered as well.

"I'm glad you guys sorted that out," Ash smiled.

Bonnie turned her head, looking at her brother. "I'm glad it didn't blow up this time, though you really should work on your naming skills!"

"I don't know why you're surprised," Clemont argued, "but it's Star's turn next."

Monica peered at Flora. "Do you want to go back in your poké ball for this?" Flora nodded. Monica took out her poké ball once more, returning Flora with a flash of red light. "Thank you," she whispered to the poké ball before putting it away again.

"Hey! Serena's glowing again," Bonnie noticed. Sure enough, the sleeping girl was shrouded with mist, this time a light pink.

"Great, it's a good memory this time," Monica said, much to Ash's relief. Drawing out her other poké ball, she announced, "Time to hear Star's side of the story."

X-X-X

_Meanwhile in Serena's dream. . ._

"Another memory?" Serena mused aloud, taking in her new surroundings. She was back at her house, down by her mom's rhyhorn racing track. She didn't recall this memory, yet something about it was very familiar to her.

She watched as her mom and her five-year-old self came onto the track, followed closely behind by Calem. All three of them were dressed in rhyhorn racing clothes. "Told you I'd do it with you," he whispered to the little Serena when Grace wasn't looking. "I'm not gonna make you do these stinky lessons alone."

"Wow, rhyhorn racing lessons. So much fun," Serena muttered sarcastically, watching her mom get her rhyhorn ready with his saddle. Reluctantly, she followed them and leaned against the fence, not looking forward to reliving this memory.

"You two ready for your first lesson?" Grace asked the two kids. She didn't wait for an answer before she started lecturing them on what to do and what not to do while riding a rhyhorn. Serena noticed her younger self spacing out, with Calem drawing her attention back with a few well-placed elbows to the ribs. Serena herself was starting to zone out as well, wishing she could be anywhere but there.

"Oh right," Serena remembered, "this was when I really started hating rhyhorn racing." She let her mind wander, thinking about her friends again. Were they reliving some of their memories, too? How long had she been asleep already? Maybe- hopefully- this would be the last memory she had to go through before she could wake up.

"Ready to try and get on Rhyhorn?" Grace asked, regaining Serena's attention. She must've been daydreaming- dream-dreaming?- for a while, as Calem mounted Rhyhorn perfectly the first time, while she knew that the "art" of mounting a rhyhorn took at least ten minutes of instruction to get right. "Great job, Calem! Serena, you're next."

Little Serena shook her head. "No, I don't wanna." Serena smiled wryly. She didn't remember being this defiant when she was younger.

Grace let out an exasperated sigh as she helped Calem down. "Serena, if Calem can do it, you can, too."

Calem, now down from Rhyhorn, came over and grabbed little Serena's hand, pulling her towards Rhyhorn. "Come on, I'll be next to you! You don't hafta be scared!"

Little Serena grumbled but complied. She wasn't scared, but she always listened to Calem; if she couldn't trust her best friend, then who could she trust?

Needless to say, she couldn't get on Rhyhorn in her first try due to her zoning out. Nor could she on her second, third, and fourth tries.

"Serena, were you listening to anything I was saying?" Grace asked, a bit frustrated.

"Kinda?" Little Serena answered, putting her foot on Rhyhorn to hoist herself up. Serena's eyes widened, recognizing the memory a bit late. She needed to turn away, she did not want to see this-

Little Serena pushed too hard, vaulting herself over Rhyhorn and onto the ground on the other side. "Owww!" She wailed. Calem and Grace were quickly at her side.

"Are you alright, Serena?" Grace fretted, examining her daughter. Serena caught a glimpse of her scraped knee, looking away when she noticed the blood coming out of the wound. Her own knee throbbed in sympathy, remembering the old wound. In fact, if Serena thought about it, that was the same knee she had hurt when she first met Ash. That incident was still a couple years after this one, though.

"Why do I have to be seeing this right now?" She murmured, resting her chin in her hand and her elbow on the fence. She looked away from all the commotion in the center, focusing instead on the horizon. It was around noon, a beautiful cloudless sky stretching above her. She spotted the tree she climbed up since she was nine to get away from her mom's lessons and decided that if now wasn't a good time for that, then there never would be one.

She still remembered the exact layout of the tree from the many times she climbed it years ago. Grabbing the lowest branch, she hoisted herself up and sat down on the sturdiest branch, leaning against the trunk. She inhaled, the sweet smell of the tree's leaves filling her nose. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back. . . It was unquestionable that this was the best way to spend this memory. She would just sit here, relax in the shade of the tree. . .

Her eyes flew open a second later when she heard the high pitched screaming.

She looked over at the training area, recognizing the shriek. Sure enough, she saw her younger self on the ground again. "This is going to be a long memory," she moaned, closing her eyes again and remembering just how many times she had fallen off Rhyhorn during her first lesson. "Please, make it stop!"

As if someone heard her wish, she heard the sounds of the memory fade. She opened her eyes once more, light pink swirling in her vision and changing the memory once again.


	8. Ahh, Young Love

"Well, this is new," Serena murmured, taking in the new scene that was laid out in front of her. While the area she was in had been very familiar in her past two memories, where she was now only vaguely rang a bell in the very back of her mind. If this was one of her memories, then it was very obviously an old one, and didn't take place anywhere in Kalos.

Near what appeared to be an observatory of some sort, a large group of kids as well as pokémon were gathered, all interacting with one another. Adults circled the area as well, making sure nobody ran off or fought. Serena didn't recognize any of the people, but then, sometimes it was best if one just observed.

A small movement caught her eye behind her, prompting her to turn. There she saw her seven-year-old self hiding behind a tree and staring at a group of kids her age that were crowding around a woman and her pokémon. An older man- Professor Oak, Serena recalled- came up next to her younger self. If Professor Oak was in this memory, then she could only be in one place. . .

Professor Oak's summer camp, the first time she met Ash.

Of course, this wasn't the exact time; if she remembered correctly now, it was the day after. She inched closer to the professor and her younger self while scanning the crowd.

"Serena, why don't you play with the other girls over there?" Professor Oak suggested lightly, gesturing to some girls who were cuddling various fluffy Pokémon. Wordlessly, little Serena shook her head, her eyes trained on one particular person in the crowd. If Serena looked right where her younger self was looking. . .

Yep. There he was, standing in front of a rattata that lived in Professor Oak's lab. The young Ash's hair was just as messy, if not more, than it currently was, but he paid no heed to it, as per usual. He was too enveloped in the rattata to notice anyone else around him, or even the young Serena staring at him from afar.

Professor Oak attempted to talk to her young self again, but to no avail. Finally, with a slightly defeated sigh, he walked away. Once he was gone, little Serena continued staring at Ash, silently hoping that he would notice her.

"Go over to him," Serena told her younger self. "Talk to him." Of course, her younger self didn't respond and stayed glued to her spot.

Still, even with her younger self not approaching Ash, there was something about this memory that made it special. She was sure of it.

"Hey, c'mon!" Both Serena and her younger self looked up to see Ash running towards them. "There are some really cool pokémon over there, and everything is more fun when you have a friend to see it with, right? So let's go!" Without waiting for a response, he grabbed little Serena's hand and brought her over to where one of Professor Oak's assistants was playing with a vulpix. Serena followed the two kids eagerly, hoping to relive as much of this as possible. As far as she remembered, the only time she and Ash had interacted at the camp was when she had hurt her knee, but she had obviously forgotten this memory. If anything, that made the moment that much sweeter.

The rest of the memory played out in similar fashion, with Ash taking her younger self around to different pokémon and her following bashfully. While the two were playing with a poliwag, Serena walked around the area, wanting to capture as much of it as possible in her mind.

"Just look at them," she heard a woman's voice say. She turned, seeing a woman with her auburn hair in a ponytail talking to Professor Oak. "My little Ashy seems to have found a friend."

"She must be Ash's mom," Serena noted aloud, recognizing the shade of brown eyes that she shared with her son. So then that meant they were talking about her and Ash!

Professor Oak smiled. "Indeed. You know, Delia, Serena wouldn't talk to anyone else- or play with anyone else, for that matter. She seems very shy, but she also shows a lot of promise."

Delia chuckled. "Well, Professor, she _is_ from Kalos. If I came from another region and didn't know anyone, I would be shy, too. I'm happy she found someone to connect with. Who knows? The way they're acting, they could end up together someday."

Serena blushed. Was that really what Ash's mom thought of the two of them so long ago? She looked back at her younger self, still with Ash. She smiled lightly, hoping that she could stay in this memory.

Slowly, however, the scenery swirled into the same light pink fog that had brought her here. She sighed. "At least let this one be a good one, please!"

The fog cleared, leaving her in a forest. The chilly air around her suggested that it was in the winter. . . and herself emerging from the tent she and Bonnie shared indicated that this was only a month ago. More specifically, on New Year's Day.

Serena watched herself sit against a tree outside, too lost in thought to care about the dirt she was probably getting all over her clothes and skin. She remembered stressing about the kiss on the cheek she had given Ash the night before, and whether or not she should tell him what it was really for.

Before she could come to a conclusion, Ash came out of the tent he and Clemont shared, stretching. Pikachu followed close behind him, his face contorted into a yawn.

"Morning, Serena," he said when he saw her. She quickly got up from the ground.

"Morning, Ash! Morning, Pikachu," she added with a smile. "Why are you two up so early?"

Ash thought for a moment, scratching the back of his head. "Y'know, I could ask the same. I guess I was just too excited for the new year to sleep!"

Serena laughed a bit at his eagerness before remembering what she wanted to do. "Hey Ash. . . about last night. . ."

He interrupted her with a small smile. "I won't tell Clemont or Bonnie about what you told me if you don't want me to. You know you can trust me."

She nodded, her face erupting in flames. "Yeah, I know. . . but that's not what this is about."

Pikachu was now listening intently. "What is this about, then?" Ash inquired, scratching his partner between his ears.

"I-it's about. . . about. . ." Serena internally smacked herself for shying away from the subject. She also wished she would've waited to say this next part. "I- I love you, Ash!"

Ash fell into a stunned silence, his widened eyes gazing at her. From next to him, Pikachu gave her a thumbs-up.

"Finally!" Serena whipped around to find Bonnie and Clemont, still in their pajamas, the former jumping up and down in excitement while the latter was giving her an apologetic look. "It's about time you told him!"

"I must agree with Bonnie, although she could've chosen a better time to state that fact," Clemont added, glaring at his younger sister, who smiled back cheekily.

Serena looked between the two. "I didn't know you two knew. . . ?"

"Oh, I knew!" Bonnie exclaimed, tackling Serena with a hug. Luckily, the two managed to stay on their feet. "I could tell, y'know? I told Clemont last week."

"Which she had no right to do, so for what it's worth, I apologize," Clemont said. Bonnie let go of Serena, running over to Pikachu and giving him an enthusiastic high-five.

"What do you mean, you love me?" Serena turned back, almost forgetting that Ash hadn't responded to her declaration yet.

"Uh. . ." If it was possible for her face to be even more red, it was. She took a breath. "I'm going to be completely honest here. After I met you at Professor Oak's summer camp when we were seven, I developed a major crush on you. The day I left for this journey, I had seen you on the television. That was the day you jumped off of Prism Tower to save Pikachu. I can't even begin to describe how seeing you do that made me feel. I decided that I wanted the chance to see you again, so I left home. These feelings I have. . . my crush has gotten more pronounced now that I've been traveling with you, and every day I spend with you I fall in love with you a little more. Sure, you have your flaws, but you're also kind, considerate, funny, passionate, and a billion other things. This isn't the ideal situation for me telling you, but it would've come out sometime or other."

She looked at him meekly. "I don't want you to think that you have to feel the same way about me, but I'm glad I got the chance to get this off my chest. I don't want this to change our friendship, although all of this is what that kiss was about last night."

"Kiss?!" Clemont sputtered, blushing hard. Bonnie grinned at Serena, winking.

Feeling a bit playful, she turned to Clemont, remarking "Re-lax, it was just on the cheek!"

"Wow, Serena," Ash said, a smile growing on his face. "I had no idea you felt that way."

Serena nodded. "That was rough, admittedly. I was dropping a lot of hints for you."

"So Ash? What do you say?" Bonnie interjected, nudging Ash with her elbow.

"Well. . . To be totally honest, I feel kinda the same way. You're different than all of the girls I know, Serena. I admire you in ways, too. Though I'm not quite sure I'm boyfriend material," he joked.

Serena's heart jumped, hearing these words again. She almost forgot that she was just watching this memory instead of going through it again.

He continued. "I mean, I'm not even sure I'm ready to have a girlfriend, but maybe we can, you know, compromise?"

Serena tilted her head. "How so?"

"We're still friends, but we're. . . more than friends?" Ash laughed at himself. "I don't know, in case you can't tell, I'm completely new to this."

She nodded. "I actually kind of agree. With you being set on your journey, while I don't even know what I want to do with myself yet, I think it would be best right now if we were only between friends and dating." In truth, it wasn't the optimal situation, but then again, neither was Clemont and Bonnie watching the entire exchange.

"Oh! I've got an idea!" Bonnie interrupted, waving her hand in the air like a schoolgirl. "You'll be like, kinda dating, kinda friends, but no pressure, and you can hold hands and stuff! It's like taking out the serious stuff and leaving the fun of dating!"

Serena giggled. "Sounds fine to me. But Bonnie, how do you know so much about dating?"

Bonnie glanced quickly at Clemont, who seemed more than a little confused at the exchange. "I may have watched some shows with dating on it while Clemont was inventing things and Dad was working." She smiled widely. "So now I'm like an expert!"

"Bonnie. . ." Clemont's ears turned red, but he cooled down quickly. "You know what? I'm not going to get into this right now."

The young girl turned to Ash. "So? What do you think?"

Ash thought for a second before grinning. "Hey, if Serena's good with it, I'm good with it!"

Serena's heart soared. Keeping all the good qualities of dating was a good idea. Maybe she should start watching the show Bonnie watched.

"I'm perfectly fine with it," Serena said once she noticed that everyone was waiting for a final response. Bonnie cheered again, while Clemont just looked even more confused.

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped onto Ash's head, using it as a springboard to hop onto Serena's shoulder. She reached up and rubbed his head, causing him to let out a content little "Chaaa!"

Ash chuckled. "He doesn't do that for just everyone, you know," he commented, standing up to pet Pikachu as well.

"Denene?" Dedenne poked his head out of Bonnie's bag, seemingly just woken up.

Bonnie grinned down at him. "Dedenne, they're finally together!" She walked off, filling the small Electric-type in on the morning's events. Pikachu hopped off of Serena's shoulder to follow.

Clemont sighed. "I better go watch her. I have to make sure she doesn't decide to get me together with someone this morning, too!" He walked off after his sister, leaving Ash and Serena alone.

She turned to face him. "Are you really good with this? I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want."

He turned up an eyebrow at that statement. "You mean other than shopping? Nah, I'm good with this. I think we'll both like it. Best of both worlds, right?"

Serena nodded. "And we can start like this." She pulled him into a hug, which surprised him at first, but after a moment he wrapped his arms around her, both of them squeezing tight.

She was the first to let go. "We'll protect each other, right?"

"Of course!" Ash grinned. They stood there just looking at each other for a moment before his growling stomach broke the mood. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Serena laughed. She grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers between his. "Come on, let's go set up breakfast for everyone!"

Ash groaned as he was pulled along. "But I can't cook!"

"That's another good thing about kind-of dating me," she replied without looking back. "I can!"

Serena watched her former self run off with Ash, their hands intertwined. "Okay, now would be a really good time to wake up," she called into the expanse of forest. "I relived a lot of memories, can I go back to my friends now?"

Her response? Swirling dark purple mist, dragging her into another memory.

X-X-X

Monica tossed Star's poké ball into the air, and Star appeared after the flash of white light. Monica put her hand on Star's head, partially to keep her from running off, partially because the fur on her head was incredibly soft. "I need you to cooperate with us, okay?" She instructed. "We just want to ask some questions."

Star looked at her with an expression that you didn't need a machine to decipher: _how in the world are you going to do that?_

Monica gently picked Star up and brought her over to Clemont, who was ready with his machine. Star stared to fidget in her arms, but Monica wouldn't let go. "Come on, it won't hurt. We're just going to see your thoughts so we can communicate. We already had Flora out, so you shouldn't bother trying to hide anything."

Clemont hooked up his device, the screen once again sharpening from the feedback. Star flopped down on her bottom, looking first at Ash with her large blue-green eyes. _'So I just think? That's it?'_

"That's it," Bonnie answered, her arms crossed. Dedenne mimicked her position, which was really cute, but Monica couldn't get distracted right then.

The jigglypuff sighed. _'Let's get this over with.'_

"If I may," Clemont said, "I would like to ask why you don't always listen to Monica. She's told me that you and Flora sometimes go off without telling her, but Flora's reason was just homesickness."

_'Monica's not very assertive. It's not like she yells at us at all or anything.'_

"Well, of course I wouldn't!" Monica cried indignantly. "And I'm plenty assertive, thank you."

_'Mm, doesn't seem that way to me. Besides, you're wrapped up in your Poké Vision videos a lot, so I find that the perfect opportunity to get some fresh air- away from anyone else.'_

The words kept flowing onto the screen, but Clemont interjected. "Okay, okay, I think that's enough."

Star huffed. _'Fine. What's next?'_

Ash stepped forward, his face serious. "Yeah, I'd like to know why you got Flora to use Nightmare on Serena." Monica sighed internally at his bluntness, though she supposed the matter would've come up sometime or other.

_'For one,'_ Star's thoughts read, _'revenge.'_

Bonnie stared at her. "But you didn't even know Serena before today," she pointed out.

_'Let me finish! Revenge on him.'_ She pointed at Ash, who looked beside him to see if Star was, perhaps, pointing at someone else.

"Me?" He inquired, pointing at his chest. "Look, I know we've had some rough times in the past, but-"

_'YOU MADE ME A PROMISE!'_ Star exploded, cheeks red. _'You and that red-haired girl and the tall boy. You told me you'd help find someone who could listen to my song without falling asleep. And you tried, I'll give you that; but eventually you all gave up. Just like everyone else who's ever tried.'_

Ash looked taken aback. "I- I'm sorry, Star, but we couldn't find anyone no matter how hard we looked. What else were we supposed to do?"

Star contemplated that for a second. _'Nothing, I suppose, but still. Now I've got Flora, who puts up Protect, so she doesn't fall asleep, but all other humans and Pokémon still fell asleep. Monica, how would you feel if everyone fell asleep whenever you sang?'_

"Pretty bad, I guess," Monica relented.

"Back to the question, please?" Clemont requested. Star nodded.

_'Alright. Since he never really kept his promise, I wanted to get back at him by taking something he loved, at least for a few minutes. I noticed that you and the girl in the red sweater were very close, so I decided to have Flora use Nightmare on her.' She swept her gaze across the room. 'I'm assuming she told you that I used my Cute Charm on her.'_

Bonnie answered for the group. "Yup."

_'Well, there was that. Besides, it's kind of exhilarating, knowing you hold that power over someone.'_

Monica rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. "That doesn't exactly explain all the other times you've done this to people who otherwise would've been my friends."

No words filled the screen for a beat. _'Yeah, I don't really have an excuse for that one.'_

"Well, I guess that's everything then!" Monica threw her hands into the air, exasperated. "Anything more to say before we disconnect you?"

Star smiled. _'Mayyyybeeee.'_ Before they knew what was happening, words filled the screen in the fastest pace possible, scrolling too fast to read. The machine started smoking.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Ash questioned as Clemont tried to make the smoke go away.

"The system's being overloaded by Star's thoughts!" Clemont cried, tweaking one last thing on his invention. Beams of light shot out from the device before it exploded, leaving everyone's hair frizzy and faces and clothes covered in ashes.

"Back to the drawing board again," Bonnie coughed out. Clemont groaned, holding a broken piece.

"It was working so well!" He complained, wiping the smears off of his glasses.

Ash surveyed the room. "Everyone okay?" Pikachu, fur all puffed out, sat up.

Monica coughed, returning a slightly charred Star to her poké ball. "Yeah, but there's still smoke everywhere!"

"I think that's the mist that was covering Serena earlier," Ash said. "It's light pink again. That's good, right?"

"Right. She should wake up after either this one or the next one, I think," Monica said, glancing over at Serena. Luckily, the explosion hadn't affected that part of the room. "Although. . ."

"What?" Bonnie asked, her natural curiosity shining through.

Monica considered whether she should tell them, but her informative side gave in. "Usually if someone has multiple good memories in a row, the next will be a really bad one."

Ash paled slightly. "That's not good." He moved to go next to her again, but Clemont caught his arm.

"Perhaps we should clean up first," he suggested lightly. Monica could see that the inventor was trying to take some stress off of Ash. "You know Serena doesn't like getting dirty without a cause."

He paused for a moment. "That's true. Alright, then, let's clean all of this up."


	9. Breaking Point

The mess made by the exploding Pokémon Mind Reader actually didn't take all that long to clean up. Monica had thought that an invention that impressive would've taken more than ten minutes to clean. Of course, she supposed, Bonnie, Clemont, and Ash were somewhat used to Clemont's inventions exploding, so they had a lot of experience in cleaning up afterward.

Unfortunately, though, they had to open a window to get the excess smoke and smell of burning machinery out of the room, so the room became very frigid. It didn't seem to bother Serena, which was good, but everyone else in the room was left freezing.

"I know!" Monica exclaimed, walking to the door. "I have hot chocolate mix back in my room. I'll go get it!"

"Can I come with you?" Bonnie asked, skipping up to her and not waiting for her brother's response.

"If Clemont says you can, then sure," she responded with a smile. Bonnie eagerly turned to face her brother.

Clemont thought a moment. "As long as you promise to stay out of trouble, then I'm fine with it. I'll start the hot water."

"Yay!" Bonnie opened the door, running out into the hallway. "C'mon, Monica!"

Monica laughed under her breath, seeing bits and pieces of her younger self in Bonnie. Of course, that was before she had started her journey, and before Hilda got worse. . .

She shook the thought from her mind, jogging to catch up with Bonnie. "My room's this way," she said, pointing down the hallway while Bonnie started off in the opposite direction. Bonnie quickly went the right way, staying next to the older trainer.

"I knew that," she muttered. Monica led them the rest of the way to her room, where she rummaged through her bag for the container of hot chocolate mix.

"So have you been traveling with your brother and Ash and Serena for a while?" Monica asked, trying to engage in conversation. Bonnie nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and it's super fun! I get to play with their pokémon, and Dedenne, of course, and I get to brush them."

Monica nodded towards Bonnie's bag, where Dedenne was sleeping yet again. She was under the impression that he slept a lot. "Are you a trainer too, then?"

She shook her head. "No, not yet, but soon enough! Clemont caught Dedenne, and he's letting me take care of him!" she exclaimed with a lot of pride. Monica chuckled a bit. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing." She took out the container, checking to make sure there was enough for everyone. "You just remind me a lot of myself and my friend when we were your age."

Bonnie was quiet for a moment. "Your friend Hilda, right? The one Flora brought up?"

Monica had almost forgotten about that. "Yeah, actually. She and I were best friends for as long as I can remember. We were always so eager to be trainers."

"Is she a trainer too?"

She froze. "Um. . . come on. We've been here for too long. Let's get this hot chocolate mix back to everyone else." She stood up and stalked out of the room quickly, followed by a very confused Bonnie. She didn't say anything when they got back to their room, simply thrusting the container at Clemont and sitting by Serena. Why did she have to mention Hilda? Maybe she should call home soon, see how everyone's doing. Or she could call Hilda's brother, Hilbert. He could probably tell her the goings-on of Nuvema Town without inspiring homesickness within her.

"You okay, Monica?" She looked up to see Ash standing near her, holding out a cup of hot chocolate to her.

She took it gratefully. "I'm fine; just thinking," she answered softly. She took a sip of the steaming hot beverage, not caring that it burnt her tongue.

Ash took a seat beside her. Pikachu also came up, taking a seat on his lap and warming his hands on Ash's hot chocolate cup. "What about? You can always trust us," he added once he saw her reluctant expression.

"I'd rather not talk about it." She stared intensely into her cup, focusing on the swirling brown liquid within. She motioned with her head to Serena. "Has she changed at all?"

"No." Ash's postured slumped a bit, betraying just how worried he actually was. "She should be waking up soon, right?"

Monica nodded. "If not after this memory, then the next one," she reminded him.

"I hope it's after this one. She's told me about one of her worst memories. . . I don't want her to relive it. _Especially_ not today."

She watched him over the rim of her cup, noting the different signs of anxiousness in his expression. Serena must be more special to him than she realized. "Do you wish to elaborate on that?" She also noted that even Pikachu was giving him a confused look when he brought that up.

He shrugged. "It's not my story to tell, and seeing as she hasn't even told Bonnie or Clemont, I don't think she wants to tell."

They sat in silence, listening to the siblings mildly bickering in the back of the room while they sipped their drinks. Pikachu eventually left his seat to go converse with Dedenne, who had awakened moments ago from yet another nap.

"So Serena's really special to you, huh." It was less of a question, more of a statement, but it broke the silence all the same.

Without a moment's hesitation, he answered. "Yeah. She and I are. . . kind-of dating." Then, at her puzzled expression, "It's a long story."

"I get it. I know a lot of long stories, too." Another silence befell them. Monica was the first of the two to notice the dark purple mist shrouding Serena. "There's the last memory. She should wake up soon," she announced to the room.

Ash's expression wilted. "A bad one. I've got a feeling that I know which one that is."

Bonnie arched an eyebrow at him from across the room. "Care to explain?"

"Not my story to tell, and I'm not sure Serena will tell it, either." He shrugged, though his eyes remained now on Serena, full of concern. "She doesn't like talking about it."

Clemont laid a calming hand on Ash's shoulder. "She's going to be fine, Ash. How bad can it be?"

X-X-X

Lucky for Serena, this memory started at the worst part.

Her young self was sitting at the table in her house, staring at a muddy floral headband lying in front of her. She kicked her legs under her chair, her mom's fletchling inspecting the headband. "Daddy can fix it," she told herself and Fletchling, eyes filled with fresh tears.

Serena watched her young self wait for maybe a minute before she got bored. She didn't want to be in this memory, not today, not any day. Instead, she decided to go up to her room, wanting to be reminded how she might've changed it over the years.

The walls were the same, at least, she discovered. The pink and purple stripes were the one thing in the room that appeared to have not changed at all. The pink carpet was still there too, although you could barely see it under the clothes and stuffed animals scattered on the floor. Of course, this was all before Serena had decided that a neater room was much better than a messy one.

Littered on the desk in the corner were papers, mostly from school, though some were sketches of clothing. In addition to the papers were a couple hats, headbands, and smaller stuffed animals, some with clips where you could hook them to a bag. The shelves on the other side of the room, near the door, were filled with fantasy books that she loved, as well as random colored pencils, erasers, and sketchpads.

She remembered that her closet was messy, so she didn't even bother opening it. Her bed was unmade, the pink sheets with white polka dots on them balled up near the bottom of her bed. All across the bed were stuffed animals, most notably the Joltik she slept with every night, even right before she left on her journey, and the Bulbasaur that later resided on the shelf above her bed.

In the center of the room was the circular table that somewhat resembled a poké ball. Strewn across it were multiple plastic teacups of different colors, a plastic teapot, and more stuffed animals sitting around the table. If she did a quick count, she saw about twenty stuffed animals in all around her room. Ah, the good old stuffed-animal-obsessed years.

Serena walked across the room, observing every little detail and catching it in her mind. This room provided her solace over the next few years. And honestly? She kind of missed it. She missed being home with her mom, and she missed Rhyhorn and Fletchling, too.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the video phone ringing. She heard her younger self answering it, and watched out the window as she ran to get her mom. She saw Grace coming back up with her, looking a bit annoyed at her training being interrupted for a phone call. Serena finally emerged from her room, watching the dreaded events unfold.

"Serena, please go to your room," Grace said, a certain edge to her voice that Serena hadn't been able to place when she was younger. She could easily now, though; it was disbelief and grief.

Not wanting to hear the news, Serena followed her younger self back to her room for the next few minutes, reading the picture books over her shoulder after she got bored with trying to eavesdrop. They had only gone through two books before Grace came into the room, eyes brimming with tears.

"Put your coat on, Serena. Calem's mom is going to watch you for a while," she said in a strong voice. Little Serena looked up from her book, confused, but Serena only felt dread for the following events.

"But Calem's sick today," Serena mentioned. "You said I can't go over to his house when he's sick."

Grace gave a sigh that displayed that she was not in the mood for backtalk. "Just. . . please. Let's go; I have to go somewhere quickly."

The two of them, plus Serena watching, walked over to Calem's house, with Grace dropping Serena off with Calem's mom before leaving.

Calem's mom shook her head at Grace's retreating figure, a look of sadness in her eye. "Come into the kitchen, would you please, Serena?"

"Mrs. Xavier, what's going on?" She asked, taking off her coat and putting it on the back of her chair. Even with the sweater and stockings she was wearing that day, she was shivering slightly in her seat.

Mrs. Xavier set a glass of chocolate milk- her and Calem's favorite- in front of her, opting for coffee for herself. "Calem's taking a nap, so we need to be quiet, alright?"

Evading the question. Now she really knew something was up. And seeing it now, Serena wanted to leave, to walk out of the memory and go as far as she could, never stopping for anything.

Serena asked again, "What's going on? Where did Mommy go?"

Mrs. Xavier took a deep breath. "Well, dear, your mom went to the hospital."

Hospital. Even at six, she knew a hospital was where sick or hurt people or pokémon went, though pokémon usually had their own hospital to go to. "Why? Is she sick? When's Daddy gonna get home?"

"Your mom is just fine. As for your dad. . ." She seemed to stare off into the distance, instead of actually looking at Serena. "Honey, there was an accident. A vulpix and a joltik, both on the side of the road, they attacked each other, and there was this explosion."

"Why do I need to know this?" She was getting impatient now. When could she just go home?

Another deep breath. "The explosion went off right as your dad was going by. He was thrown off his bike, landing across the road. They only just found him and brought him to the hospital." A beat passed. "I'm sorry you have to hear this from me, Serena, but when they found him, thanks to a fletchling circling him and alerting passers-by, he was already dead. He's- he's not coming home." She was choked up, tears spilling onto her cheeks. Little Serena stared at her in disbelief. Meanwhile, it was all Serena could do, watching this unfold, to not start bawling like she did when she told Ash.

"What?" Serena whispered. She shook her head violently. "No. That's not right. He's coming home soon! He is!" She tried convincing herself, but ended up crying, knowing she was incorrect in her statements. And watching herself cry, watching her heart break, tore the wounds from this moment right back open.

All three of them cried. Serena recalled that later, when Grace came to pick her up early the next morning [Serena had stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Xavier that night, sleeping in their guest room], they all cried together, holding onto each other. The next few weeks forward, Calem would treat her like she was a ticking time bomb. She would barely go outside, turning so pale that she almost never took her hat off when she was outside for fear that she would burn to easy.

All of this she recalled when she was crying, wanting to wake up, knowing that nothing could possibly be worse than watching yourself get the news that your father died on the anniversary of his death.

That was it. These memories had tortured her enough. She was at her breaking point. She needed to wake up, or she might as well go insane. She needed the comfort of her friends, of Fennekin and Pancham, of Ash.

"WAKE UP!" She screamed, covering her ears and closing her eyes to block out the sounds and sights of her younger self and Mrs. Xavier crying. More tears were squeezed out of her eyes, dripping down her cheeks, some wetting her lips as she shook. "Wake up," she repeated once more, barely speaking at all, sinking down onto her knees.

Behind her closed eyelids, black swirled into a mix of pink and purple, and she opened her now-red eyes.


	10. Problem and Solution

"Serena? You're awake!" She heard Ash exclaim as she opened her bleary eyes. She sat up, stiff from her impromptu nap. Monica and Ash were sitting next to her bed, Bonnie and Clemont and Pikachu were on the other side of the room but were coming over now.

"I am so, so sorry that Star and Flora made you go through all of that, we talked to them, Flora's sorry too, but Star- not so much, but I'm still sorry," Monica rushed, setting aside the cup in her hands. Ash did the same, sitting on the bed next to her.

He waited a moment before whispering, "Did you. . . are you okay?"

Clemont and Bonnie had just gotten to the bed when the fresh scars in her mind started bleeding out, making themselves known through tears. She didn't want to cry again, especially not in front of her friends and yet there she was, sobbing. She felt Ash's arms wrap around her protectively, his body pressed against hers. She leaned into him, shaking.

"Serena. . ." she heard Bonnie's small voice say worriedly.

"I'm- I'm okay," she muttered, pushing away from Ash and drying her tears with sleeves. "Or, I will be."

Clemont studied her as though she were an invention she was trying to fix. "Maybe it would help if you told us what happened while you were asleep? Only if you want to, of course."

She thought about it. It had helped when she had told Ash about her dad, but she didn't want to burden them with the knowledge. "I guess so," she whispered, wiping her cheeks to get rid of any salty residue from her tears.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked, one of his arms still around her shoulders. Pikachu hopped onto the bed, climbing onto her lap. She pet him, which actually helped a lot with her sadness.

She nodded slightly. "They're gonna find out some time or another. I just wish it wasn't like this." She noticed the lemon-haired siblings exchanging confused glances before turning their attention back on her. In the corner of her eye, she saw Monica wrap her arms around herself, as if she was recalling a bitter memory as well. "I'm going to give you the. . . short version, let's say. Otherwise we'd be here for a while.

"So. . . when I was six, eight years ago today, my dad was coming home from work," she started.

Bonnie interrupted her. "You said he traveled a lot for his job, right?"

Serena winced, reminded of the lie she had told Bonnie earlier. "Yeah, no. Truth is, he worked at a school in Vaniville Town. I wasn't ready to tell you this story earlier. Sorry.

"He was coming home, and there was this explosion that knocked him off his bike- he biked to and from work every day- and he landed across the road. By the time anyone found him, he was- he was dead." The words squeezed her heart, almost making even more tears spill over, but she took a deep breath and continued. "I found out from Calem's mom, who was watching me while my mom went to the hospital. The only person I told before now was Ash. That memory was the last one I saw before I woke up, which especially stung since today is the anniversary of his death."

Clemont nodded with sudden understanding. "That's why Ash was so worried; he must not've wanted you to experience that again."

She looked over at Ash, eyebrows raised slightly. "You were worried?"

He let out a nervous laugh. "Maybe a little."

Bonnie snorted. "A little? A lot of the time, he would stay right next to your bed!" she exclaimed. Serena giggled a little.

"No kidding?" She asked. Ash blushed, embarrassed.

"No kidding," Monica promised from her balled-up position. A small smile started on her face. "It was actually kinda cute to see how much he cares about you. I even got him to explain the whole kind-of-dating thing." Her smile vanished. She curled in on herself a bit further. "Wish I could find a relationship like that."

"I'm glad you told us, Serena," Clemont stated, his blue eyes looking into hers. "You can always tell us anything, no matter what."

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah! I mean, we've all got stuff we'd rather not talk about- Clemont especially-" Clemont's face turned a very vivid red at this. "But if we ever did need to talk, we'd always talk to our friends!"

"See? I told you you could tell them," Ash reminded her, all blush from his tan face gone.

Pikachu agreed heartily. "Pi pika chu pi!" He got up from her lap, jumping onto Ash's head and pushing the brim of his hat down. "Chaaa!"

"Thanks, guys," she said gratefully. She was glad they weren't mad at her for keeping this from them.

"Monica, you tell your story now," Bonnie ordered playfully. "Remember, Flora said that it helps when you share things."

Serena agreed. "I does help a lot. You can tell us anything, Monica. You're one of us now."

Monica smiled weakly back at her. "Thanks, Serena. I think I'll finally tell. This. . . I haven't told anyone who doesn't know my friend Hilda. So as far as I know, only the people of Nuvema Town, me, and Flora know now. But Serena, if you can share stuff that hurts you, so can I.

"Hilda and I are very close, though I haven't been home or called home since I got here a few months ago. It's. . . kind of painful," she started.

"Clemont built a pokémon mind reading thing," Ash whispered in her ear after seeing her confused expression at Bonnie's earlier choice in words. "It worked, but then exploded."

She rolled her eyes subtly. _Of course_ it exploded.

"When we were younger, around five, she would get these fainting spells. She would just turn sheet-white and then drop. It was no big deal, at first. Her mom always chalked it up to the heat. After a while, they started occurring more and more often, sometimes multiple times a week. Her mom knew it couldn't be the heat anymore, so she took Hilda in to see the doctor.

"They found out that she has this condition where she'll faint often, but they couldn't figure out why. Other than that condition, she was in perfect health. They said she would probably grow out of it, so I just learned to get used to it and know how to help."

Clemont interjected. "That was awhile ago though, right? You _did_ say the two of you were around five years old, after all."

Monica nodded. "The doctor said she'd get better, but as we got older, she started fainting more and more. Her mom started getting really worried, even though my mom is a doctor herself and said that Hilda would be fine. She even recommended a medication for her mom to ask the doctor about. Hilda ended up having to take it, but it helped a lot.

"It was around when we were nine that we met Flora. Hilda and I made a pact after befriending her that when we started our journeys, we would take Flora with us. We always thought we would be on our journey together. Her mom was still concerned, though, to the point where she said that Hilda couldn't become a trainer."

"But that's no fair!" Ash exclaimed. "If her medicine was working, then why couldn't she do what she wanted?"

"That's just it: the medicine was working. Her mom didn't want her to run out and be caught in a dangerous situation with her fainting spells before she got to the next town, where she could refill her prescription. Hilda called her brother Hilbert when her mom told us- he had been a trainer for about three years then- and he came home to try and straighten everything out. He even offered to come with us to make sure she was safe, but her mom wouldn't budge a bit.

"After that, Hilda kind of withdrew herself from the world. She wouldn't come outside into the woods to see how many pokémon we could meet, and she stopped watching whenever passersby had battles, which had before been one of her favorite things. I even offered to let Flora stay with her when I started my journey, as those two were closer than Flora and I were at the time, but she turned me down, saying that Flora at least deserved a chance to see the world. Basically, she removed herself from her dreams of becoming a trainer and winning the Unova League."

Serena blinked, eyes widened at the tale. "That's horrible that she had to give up her dream like that!" She thought about how lucky she was that her mom let her go on a journey instead of staying home and training for rhyhorn racing. Of course, this was a different situation, and she couldn't imagine being in Hilda's shoes.

"Yeah, Hilbert and I thought so, too. We called her as often as we could, but each call got shorter and shorter as Hilda came up with excuses for cutting us off. He and I called each other to discuss that, but neither of us could get her to come back to her fiery ways. She had always been adamant about being a trainer; we didn't see any reason why she should give up the fight." She lifted a shoulder. "Once I left Unova, every time I call she barely says anything, or doesn't pick up at all. Living with her mother being so protective must be really hard on her, but she shouldn't have given up. Who knows? Her mom might've eventually seen reason and let her go, but now I guess we won't know. And I guess that's that."

Everyone was speechless for a moment. "That's awful," Bonnie finally said, breaking the silence.

Monica nodded. "There's not much to do about it, though. Hilbert and I have tried everything."

Clemont put a hand to his chin, thinking. "Maybe if there was a way to get her interested in being a trainer again. Her mom might trust her more now that she's older, right? If she really wants this, then she should be interested if we give her something to be interested in."

"That's a good idea," Serena praised. "Her love for being a trainer couldn't have completely gone away. It should still be in her, buried real deep inside her. She just hasn't been able to sense it for a while, that's all."

"Yeah," Ash added. "Maybe we could show her a battle or something." Serena rolled her eyes; of course he would suggest a battle. But then. . .

Bonnie's eyes sparkled. "Uh-huh, and Monica could battle someone! She could call Hilda, and then we would show her the battle. That could get her back into it!"

"That's. . . actually a great idea." Monica smiled gratefully. "You guys would really be willing to help?"

"Of course we are!" Ash grinned. "Anyone who wants to be a trainer should be a trainer."

Serena laughed lightly. "Of course you would say that, Mr. I've-Traveled-Across-Six-Regions." She was vaguely aware that his arm was still around her, but she didn't care. It felt nice.

"Who should you battle, though?" Clemont asked. "Bonnie isn't a trainer yet, and I would rather work behind the camera on this one, so that leaves Ash and Serena."

The two trainers looked at each other. "I mean, you have more experience, so you should probably battle her," Serena said.

"Yeah, but you should practice your battling so you can get better," Ash countered. She had to admit, he had a point. She had barely had any battles at all; she didn't count Team Rocket, of course. He was right that she needed to gain the experience.

"Uh, maybe you should just let Monica decide?" Bonnie interjected, an eyebrow raised at them. "She is the one battling either of you, ya know."

Serena blushed lightly. "Oh yeah, of course. Which one of us would you rather battle, Monica?"

The purple-haired trainer looked between them. "I guess I'll battle. . . Serena."

She grinned, squeezing the slightly disappointed Ash beside her. "All right then, let's go get set up on the battlefield outside! We should call Hilda as soon as possible; that way we can get her back to normal as soon as possible."

Monica smiled right back at her. "Thanks again for all of your help. Now, let's do this!"


	11. Into the Spirit

Luckily, the ground outside was dry enough for everyone to go outside without getting completely muddy. The heavy rain must've died down while she was in Memory Land. While Monica helped Clemont set up her xtransceiver to a larger screen he had just happened to have, Serena called out Fennekin and Pancham and gave them a short pep talk, complete with Ash trying to talk over her to give her some pointers and Bonnie trying to brush Fennekin's tail. It was all she could do to not ask them to please shut up.

Once she was done, she took her place on one side of the battlefield. "Ready whenever you are, Monica!" She called. Monica nodded, a smile set on her face.

"I'll start the call!" She typed Hilda's number into her xtransceiver, the smaller screen transferring over to the larger one. "Hopefully she actually picks up."

"I can't wait to meet her!" Bonnie cheered excitedly. Dedenne cheered as well from on top of her head.

The xtransceiver rang three times before being picked up. The girl on the other side had long, curly brown hair that framed her face. Her large brown eyes blinked. "Monica?"

"Hilda." Monica's smile wilted just a tiny bit. "How're you doing?"

Hilda shrugged, looking off to the side quickly. "Alright. How's Kalos?"

"That's actually what I called you about." She stepped back from the camera, revealing everyone. They smiled and waved, ignoring the confused and slightly angry expression Hilda was wearing.

"Mon, what did you do?" She asked with a sigh, crossing her arms.

Monica winked at her. "Well, first off, these are my new friends." She pointed at each of them as she introduced them. "There's Clemont, Bonnie, Ash, and Serena. And you, my dear Hilda, are going to watch me and Serena battle."

Hilda let out an exasperated sigh. "Is this about being a trainer again? I keep telling you, Mom's not gonna change her mind, no matter how much I argue with her. It's easier to just go along with what she says."

"C'mon, I know you, Hilda, and I know that you can't look away from a battle. Especially if you get to see. . ." She withdrew a poké ball, tossing it into the air. Flora emerged from the flash of white light, floating right into the camera when she saw who was on the screen.

"Muuuuu Munna!" Flora cried happily, floating up and down as if she were jumping.

Hilda couldn't hide her smile. "Flora? Nice to see you too!" She returned her attention to Monica. "Alright, Mon, I'll watch, but only for Flora. I'll tell you right now, though: it's not going to change anything."

"We'll see." Flora floated to Monica's side, following her to their end of the battlefield. "Ready, Serena?" She called.

Serena nodded, looking down at Fennekin and Pancham, both by her side and ready to battle. "Fennekin, you're up first!"

"Fen!" Fennekin ran onto the battlefield, already taking up a defensive stance. Ash had told her that Pancham would have a greater disadvantage against both Flora and Star, so she figured she should go with the advantage first. Flora took up a defensive stance as well,

"You make the first move," she told Monica.

Monica nodded excitedly. "Flora, you ready? Use Zen Headbutt!"

Flora reared up, head glowing blue, before charging at Fennekin. Fennekin held her ground until the last second, jumping out of the way, leaving Flora to crash into the ground in front of Serena.

This was her chance. "Now, Fennekin, get in close and use Scratch!" Fennekin charged towards Flora, who was just starting to get up.

"Dodge it, then counter with Tackle!" Monica cried out. Flora shot out of the way as soon as possible, knocking into Fennekin and sending her flying backwards with a Tackle.

"Come on, Serena! Don't give up!" Ash cheered from the side. She smiled, not wanting to look away from the battlefield but still acknowledging his advice. She wouldn't give this up. She was determined to win.

"You alright, Fennekin?" She called. Fennekin stood, giving a determined nod. Of course, Fennekin wasn't one to give up, either. "All right! Use Hidden Power!"

Blue balls of energy surrounded Fennekin, firing off at Flora in a successive line. Flora dodged most of them without having to be told, with only the last two hitting their mark. Flora wasn't phased much, though; it was evident that Monica had much more experience than she did in the realm of battling.

"Flora, let's retaliate with Tackle again!" Flora charged forward, hitting Fennekin with the Normal-type move. Fennekin flew back, but still landed on her feet.

"Hidden Power again! Keep them going!" More balls of energy shot towards Flora in quick succession.

Monica held out a finger. "Not so fast! Flora, Protect!" A green shield slammed up around Flora as the energy balls collided with it, ramming one after another after another.

Serena thought for a moment. Flora wouldn't be able to use Protect forever. "Keep going, don't give up!" She shouted to her pokémon.

"Kin!" Fennekin kept firing Hidden Power until finally Flora's Protect crashed, the last few attacks hitting their mark. Flora flew back, landing on the ground, but quickly getting back up.

Neither girl made a move for a moment. Monica began laughing silently, but it soon grew in volume until everyone could hear it. "Amateur move, Serena! Your attack may have hit eventually, but it tired out your Fennekin as well. Now they're evenly matched in strength." Looking over at Fennekin, what Monica said was true; Fennekin was as worn out as Flora was now, after using Hidden Power consecutively so many times. "Flora, use Zen Headbutt!"

"Fennekin, get in close and use Flamethrower, then jump out of the way!" Serena yelled, the heat of the moment bringing out her competitive side. No way was she going to lose this battle, no matter how much more experience Monica had!

They two pokémon charged each other, Flora's head blue with Zen Headbutt. Fennekin charged up with Flamethrower, the fire hitting it's mark right away. Flora was moving too fast though, charging through the column of flame and straight into Fennekin, surprising both pokémon and trainer. The two shot to the ground, just to Serena's right, kicking up dust. The dust cleared soon enough, but Serena was too afraid to see who was still standing.

Clemont called it.

"Fennekin and Flora are both unable to battle; therefore, neither side is the winner!" He announced, playing referee. Indeed, both pokémon were sprawled out, unconscious.

Monica and Serena both pulled out their respective poké balls, returning their pokémon. "Thank you. Take a nice rest," Serena whispered to the poké ball before shrinking it and holding it firmly in her hand. Her yoga pants, unlike her skirt, didn't have pockets, so she held onto both Fennekin and Pancham's poké balls until she needed them. She looked down at Pancham. "Ready to go?"

"Cham pan pan!" Pancham replied, running out onto the field. Monica smirked, taking out her second poké ball.

"I hope you know what this means," she said, tossing the ball into the air. Star appeared on the field, a smug look on her face. "We've got the type advantage."

"I didn't know you had a jigglypuff, Mon," Hilda commented with slight interest evident in her voice. "It's kinda cute."

Monica turned and smiled. "Yeah! Her name's Star, but don't let her appearance fool you." Her eyes cut to Star before turning back to the screen. "She's caused way too much trouble both today and in the past."

"Type advantages don't mean anything!" Ash called from the side. He smiled, giving Serena a thumbs-up. "You've got this, Serena!"

"Go, Serena! Go, Pancham!" Bonnie cheered, jumping up and down. Dedenne, safely in her arms, cheered as well.

Monica's attention turned back to the battle at hand. "Let's not waste any time. Star, use DoubleSlap!"

Star started running towards Pancham. "Pancham, counter with Arm Thrust!" She knew it wouldn't do much, but at least it might put off some of the damage. Pancham's arms glowed white, striking just as Star struck, causing the two to be held at a stalemate. Now was her chance to get the upper hand! "Now Pancham, Stone Edge!"

Pancham slammed his hands to the ground, surprising Star so that she forgot to use DoubleSlap. Glowing blue stones emerged from the ground, flipping Star into the air and making her bounce along as new ones rose after the first.

"Star, balance in the air and use Round!" Monica called determinedly. Star did just that, emitting a high-pitched noise. Serena covered her ears, groaning slightly at the sound. She saw that everyone, even Hilda, was doing the same. Pancham got up as well, recoiling from the sound. Star jumped down safely from the last stone, appearing only slightly battered. "Now use Pound!"

"Pancham, dodge it!" She was hoping that Pancham's ears had recovered enough to hear her call. Star sprinted forward, arm out to the side. Pancham leaned to a side, but to no effect, as Star had feinted to the opposite side, striking on Pancham's side. Pancham stayed on his feet, running out of the way in case Star decided to use Pound again.

Serena weighed her options. She could try Stone Edge again, but Star and Monica already saw that trick. Dark Pulse and Arm Thrust both wouldn't be super effective, either. She just needed a way to keep Star occupied so she couldn't use any super effective moves, either.

"Keep Star away by using Dark Pulse!" She called out, and Pancham responded immediately. The balls of black and purple circles appeared in his hands before he combined and fired them at Star, hitting straight-on. Star took little to no damage, however, as she had a type advantage.

Monica grinned. "This is about the only time I'll ever say this. Star, use Sing!"

Everyone around her quickly put their hands over their ears, preventing them from hearing Star's voice and falling asleep. Pancham, on the other hand, was unlucky, as he got a full blast of the song. "Pancham!" She cried out, but the Playful pokémon was already asleep.

The purple-haired trainer turned to Clemont, her hands at her side once more as Star grew silent. "You may as well call the battle now," she grinned in triumph. "Pancham won't wake up for at least five minutes, and I don't want to hurt him any more in this battle if I don't have to."

Clemont looked to Serena to see what she thought. She glanced at Pancham, asleep on the field. With a sigh, she said, "Go ahead. Monica's got a point."

He nodded, acknowledging her decision. "Pancham is unable to battle! Star and Monica are the winners!"

Ash and Bonnie cheered for both of them, but perhaps the loudest was Hilda, who had completely gotten into the spirit of the battle. Serena enlarged Pancham's poké ball, calling him back. She had learned a lot from this battle, for sure.

"Good job, Monica," she congratulated with a genuine smile. Monica smiled back, all competitiveness from the battle no longer evident.

"Thanks, Serena! You did great, too." Both girls turned to the screen. "So, Hilda? Did that remind you of the old you?"

Hilda tugged on the strands of her hair. "Absolutely. It was refreshing, too. All I've been doing in this small town was cooking and babysitting. Funny how Mom would let me do that on my own." She snorted. "I definitely needed to see a good battle. Thank you both for that."

"Are you going to see if you can become a trainer, then?" Ash asked. Monica's eyes held a sense of longing for the other girl's answer.

Only a second or two went by before that answer came. "I can try, but Mom hasn't changed her views much since you left, Mon. But I also know more about how to persuade her now." She winked at her friend playfully. "Who knows? Maybe I'll finally be able to make her see reason!"

"Yay!" Bonnie exclaimed, obviously happy for the turn of events. "When we're both trainers, we should battle!"

Hilda laughed good-naturedly. "We should definitely do that," she told the young girl, whose face lit up.

"That's it! You look like a keeper, for sure!" She got down on one knee in front of the screen, much to Hilda's bewilderment. "Will you take care of my brother?"

Clemont stormed over, his face a bright red. "Bonnie! How many times. . ." he mumbled the rest of his statement, his aipom arm helping carry her away.

"Please think about it!" Bonnie called happily as she was carried off.

Hilda stared after the two siblings for a moment before looking back at Hilda. "Do you see it, too?"

Monica giggled, scratching the back of her head. "I know! When she, um, 'proposed' to me earlier, I immediately thought of how I used to do that to you."

A strange noise sounded in the area. All three pairs of female eyes immediately found their way to Ash, who was laughing to himself. "Sorry 'bout that," he apologized. "Guess I'm hungry again."

Serena made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go inside with Clemont and Bonnie, I'll be there in a minute to help him with dinner." Not needing to be told twice, he and Pikachu followed the Lumiose siblings' trail, stomach rumbling even more. She shook her head subtly at his never-ending appetite before turning back to the conversation at hand. "I'll leave you two alone to catch up. Monica, you're welcome to join us for dinner if you like."

"Thanks, that would be nice! I'll be a few minutes," she said gratefully.

"It was nice meeting you, Serena," Hilda mentioned to her now retreating back. Serena turned around, walking backwards.

"You, too! I hope everything goes well." With a final wave, she entered the Pokémon Center, glad she could be such a big help.

X-X-X

The rest of the day flew by, with barely any daylight left after they finished eating. Tired from the day's events, everyone agreed to go to bed early and get back on the road the next morning. Ash, specifically, was excited for this, wanting to get on his way to his next gym battle.

Serena, however, wasn't all that tired, given her "nap." She opted for reading up on the next town on her tablet, the light set on the lowest setting so she wouldn't disturb anyone else. She was up for hours, looking at just about everything she could about the next town.

"You're still up, Serena?" Ash's groggy voice broke the silence of the room.

She flipped her tablet shut. "Yeah. Did I wake you?"

He smiled at her through the darkness. "Nah, I just couldn't sleep." Silence befell the two once more. "Today was crazy, wasn't it?"

A small puff of air escaped her lips. "That's one way to put it. I'm glad I managed to stay distracted, though." She flopped backwards onto her bed, setting her tablet down gently on the nightstand next to it. "That might've actually been exactly what I needed."

"How? I thought. . .I mean, the way you reacted when you woke up. . ." he trailed off hesitantly. Beside him, Pikachu rolled over.

She turned her head, smiling at him. "That was just the last memory. I had some good ones, too," she explained. "One in particular."

"Yeah? Which one was that?" He laid back in his bed as well, his hands behind his head.

"The one from New Year's Day." No more had to be said. She knew he understood exactly why she loved that memory.

"Oh yeah. The one where we-" he yawned. "We figured everything out about our feelings and stuff. I'm glad we did that." His breathing steadied, indicating that he had fell asleep again.

Serena smiled to herself. She was starting to feel sleepy, too, now. She needed to be well-rested if they were going to be on the road all day tomorrow.

A yawn overtook her. She closed her eyes, starting to slip into sleep. "Miss you, Dad," she whispered to the quiet room before falling asleep once more.


	12. On the Road Again

As awake as she had been the night before, Serena quickly slipped back into the pattern of being really hard to wake up in the morning. It must've been a little past nine when she woke up, but she quickly realized that she was the only one in the room. Not even Bonnie was still asleep, and Bonnie was the only person in their group that was harder to wake up than she was.

Rolling out of bed, Serena quickly pulled on her clothes, going back to her usual style of a black shirt and red skirt. Her hair was in knots, though she was able to masterly brush them out in under five minutes before putting her hat on, satisfied. She packed everything back into her bag, sweeping her gaze around the room once more to make sure that nobody had left anything behind. Shouldering her bag, she left the room, heading out to where her friends were waiting.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Ash greeted with a teasing grin when he saw her approaching. Bonnie giggled at the nickname, but Serena inwardly blushed at the hidden compliment in the statement. "You hungry? We already ate, but-"

"That's fine," she interrupted, "I've got some snacks in my bag. I'm ready to go whenever you all are!"

"We can start out soon, then," Clemont mentioned before being interrupted by a slightly far-off voice.

"Wait!" The four turned to see Monica running towards them, a wide smile on her face. She stopped in front of them, her pigtails swinging as she caught her breath. "I wanted to thank you guys before you left."

Serena gave Ash a puzzled look. "For what?" She inquired.

Monica straightened again. "For helping me with Hilda, of course! And Flora and Star, too. I know we'll be a better team now, thanks to all of you!"

"No problem," Ash grinned. "Glad we could help!"

Bonnie, curious as ever, asked, "Where are you going next?" Monica smiled down at her.

"I'm going back to Unova," she answered. "Hilda called me a while ago, and she said that she might need my help to convince her mom, so I figured that if I went home for a visit and we did end up convincing her mom to let her be a trainer, then I'd go with her on her journey! Flora and I can't wait to go home."

"That sounds great," Serena commented. "I hope everything turns out well."

"Thank you! I've gotta get going, though; the plane ticket I bought is for three days from now in Lumiose City, so I'm under a bit of a time crunch. I only stayed this long so I could say goodbye to you all." She stepped forward, embracing each one of them one by one. "Thanks again, everyone!"

Serena hugged her back earnestly. "It was very nice meeting you," she said happily. "Please tell Hilda we all say hello!"

Monica's smile grew even wider. "Of course!" She shouldered her bag, starting towards the door, waving over her shoulder. "Bye, everyone!"

"We should get going soon, too," Clemont added moments later. Serena and Ash nodded.

"Yeah! I want to win my next badge as soon as possible!" He exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air, making Serena giggle.

"Same old Ash," she laughed, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, much to Bonnie's excitement and Ash's embarrassment. "Let's go, then!"

She and Ash ran outside, Pikachu close at their side with Bonnie following close behind. Clemont, as usual, brought up the back. All Serena could feel was exhilaration as to what was to come next for them; that, and the gratefulness for being on the road again.

X-X-X

_A week later. . ._

"Professor, a new trainer is here to start her journey. She's waiting with two others in the lobby." Professor Juniper looked up from her computer screen, somewhat grateful for the distraction.

"Thank you," she told the lab assistant as she stood up. "I'll be there in a moment."

Helping new trainers start their journeys had always been one of her favorite things about being a professor. She enjoyed the research aspect as well, but when one has been staring at a screen for days on end. . . well, she took any breaks she could get.

She made her way out to the lobby, smoothing down any wrinkles that may have appeared in her overcoat. To her surprise, along with the new trainer, whom she already had met before, she saw two familiar faces as well.

"How nice to see all of you," she smiled. "How've you been?"

"Amazing!" Hilda responded excitedly. Professor Juniper chuckled.

"I see you've convinced your mother, then?" She inquired, remembering how often Hilda would come to the lab to help her out on really busy days, often complaining about her mother not allowing her to become a trainer.

Hilbert, Hilda's older brother, nodded. "It took all three of us, but we did finally make her see reason," he explained.

On Hilda's other side, Monica nodded and smiled. "And really, a lot of this was thanks to some friends I made in Kalos!"

"Kalos," Professor Juniper repeated, eyebrows slightly raised. "That's certainly a ways off from Unova."

Monica shrugged. "Maybe, but I plan on getting all of the badges there! That is, once Hilda's won the Unova League. Then we'll all go to Kalos together!"

"Those are some very big ambitions. You'll be traveling as a group, then?"

"Absolutely," Hilda grinned. She nudged Monica with her elbow. "I wouldn't do it without my best friend!"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Hilbert joked, messing up Hilda's hair.

The two siblings started bickering good-naturedly, but Professor Juniper ended that quickly. "Hilda, are you ready to choose your first partner?"

Hilda's attention immediately shot back to her. "Yes! I already think I know who I'm going to pick."

From a cart a lab assistant had wheeled out while they were talking, Professor Juniper picked up three poké balls, calling out the pokémon inside them. "Let me introduce them all to you, anyways. First, we have Tepig, a Fire-type." The small orange and black Pokémon snorted out flames before bouncing around a bit, perhaps trying to show off. "Next is Oshawott, a Water-type." Oshawott, similarly, showed off some moves with its scalchop before striking a pose. "And finally, Snivy, a Grass-type." Contrary to the others, Snivy did not see the need to show off, opting for a sweet smile instead. "Do you know who you're going to choose?"

The brown-haired trainer's eyes glanced between the three pokémon in front of her. She smiled, kneeling down and picking one up. "How would you like to be my new friend?"

"Te Tepig!" Tepig exclaimed happily in her arms. Oshawott dropped its scalchop in the shock of not being chosen, while Snivy just shrugged it off, attempting to comfort it with a pat from one of its vines.

"Wonderful! And here," she continued, handing Hilda a pokédex, "is your pokédex. Given how often you've come here, I presume you know what it is and how to use it."

She nodded. "Definitely!" She slipped it into the bag at her side before scratching Tepig behind the ears. "I think I'm gonna call you. . . Amber." Amber cheered in her arms, apparently delighted at the name.

"You're all set, then! I hope you have a wonderful journey," Professor Juniper said, walking them out.

"Thanks, Professor!" Hilda said, and was soon echoed by Hilbert and Monica. She waved at their retreating backs, listening to them talk.

"To think, if Serena and I hadn't force-fed you our battle, this might've never happened," she heard Monica say.

Hilda nodded. "I hope I get to meet them all in person someday."

"Me, too," Hilbert agreed. "What did you say their names were?"

"Bonnie, Clemont, Serena, and Ash." Monica continued talking, but that was the last bit Professor Juniper heard before they walked out of earshot.

If the Ash Monica was talking about was the Ash she knew. . . Well, it was no surprise to her that he had already made a lot of friends and was still helping others. She could dwell on him later. For now, though, she could enjoy the sight of the three friends, one starting her journey for the first time, and the other two on the road to Unova yet again.


End file.
